Phillip has crabs. He got them from that skanky cabana slut who can't seem to get my Martini right.

by Anonymous

reply 4

09/12/2013

God, I used to dream about him every night. How fucking sick is that?

by Anonymous

reply 5

09/12/2013

The heart wants what the heart wants, Chris.

For what it's worth, I've heard he's an extremely nice guy.

by Anonymous

reply 6

09/12/2013

Skelator?

by Anonymous

reply 7

09/12/2013

I loved when GA moved to AMC and fucked his wife's mom on his wedding night.

by Anonymous

reply 8

09/13/2013

Grant A is hung like a horse. And still looks damn good for 54.

by Anonymous

reply 9

09/13/2013

SOAP THREAD

F&F

F&F

F&F

by Anonymous

reply 10

09/13/2013

OP, are you totally moronic? Are you trying to give away the soap threads or what? The trick is to use a title that they won't be able to deduce is from a soap opera.

by Anonymous

reply 11

09/13/2013

I always hated his sneer

by Anonymous

reply 12

09/13/2013

R10 has scabies.

by Anonymous

reply 13

09/13/2013

Or rabies...

by Anonymous

reply 14

09/13/2013

R11 It wasn't that bad. Don't forget the P & G soaps are dead so you need every hint you can get to find one!

by Anonymous

reply 15

09/13/2013

Still, OP could have used 'Has anybody been to McKechnie Castle in Edinburgh?' Something slightly more remote but recognizable to those in the know.

by Anonymous

reply 16

09/13/2013

R6 He is a very nice guy, very smart. Had a rep as being difficult on the show, but it was never about ego for him, he just wanted to do good work.

He and a certain actress who played a maneating character turned lesbian had a nasty falling out around the time of his dismissal in 2004.

by Anonymous

reply 17

09/13/2013

R17:[quote]around the time of his dismissal in 2004

Guiding Light fired [italic]Phillip Spaulding[/italic]?

by Anonymous

reply 19

09/13/2013

mmm, there's that gorgeous hospital resident Kelly Nelson over there in his speedo. That ginger Morgan Richards and that sad little creature Nola Reardon follow him around like dogs in heat. The rumor mill at the hospital is that he rather spend his time with Ben McFarren. Wink Wink.

by Anonymous

reply 20

09/13/2013

Katie,

I heard that he is morning a dead wife and has an overly possessive assistant!

R19 - see the link. Yes, they fired him. He didn't come back until about 6 months before the show ended.

by Anonymous

reply 23

09/13/2013

The Reardon boarding house thread is the most successful soap opera topic we have ever enjoyed on datalounge! Congratulations P&G fans! You made the genre respectable with your literate, intelligent & dynamic conversations.

by Anonymous

reply 24

09/13/2013

Yes R24 I agree. And am very glad it survived.

by Anonymous

reply 25

09/13/2013

The return of Shannon O'Hara may have been a bust but the way it started must have stunned viewers. Jessica goes to a political rally, Duncan warns her against it for fear of arrest. He gets a call his wife has been arrested and is at the police station, he comes down and ... there's Shannon.

That's brilliant.

by Anonymous

reply 26

09/13/2013

Dana Delany as McMurphy reminded me of Margaret Reed as Shannon.

by Anonymous

reply 27

09/13/2013

How come Search never expanded to an hour like its P&G sister shows? I think that would've bought it many more years, and might've survived on CBS. As it was, it was still highly rated when CBS cancelled it in favor of Conboy's Capitol. NBC acquired it, but it could never have succeeded amid NBC's low-rated line-up at the time or in the 12:30 slot against Y&R.

by Anonymous

reply 28

09/13/2013

What went down between Margaret Reed and Colleen Zenk Pinter? That was supposedly SOME feud. What's the 411?

by Anonymous

reply 29

09/13/2013

R29 It wasn't Margaret and Colleen (or at least not that I know of).

It was Colleen and Hillary Bailey Smith, who was playing Margo (now Nora on OLTL).

And it apparently centered around the fact that Colleen and Mark Pinter got together and dumped both their spouses to be together. I think they came to blows over that drama.

Mark ended up dumping Colleen when she had tongue cancer. What a prince.

by Anonymous

reply 30

09/13/2013

Thanks, r30. I know about Colleen and Hillary, but I know something bad went down between Colleen and Margaret, but I can't recall the circumstances.

by Anonymous

reply 31

09/13/2013

I've heard Hillary can be a real bitch. There was gossip out of OLTL that she and Catherine Hickland were real "shit stirrers" on set.

by Anonymous

reply 32

09/13/2013

Is it me, or is there something very creepy about the way Alan looks at Philip? I hate to say this, but it seems almost lutsful.

by Anonymous

reply 33

09/13/2013

Grant Alexander said he didn't and doesn't think he is attractive.

Growing up he was fat and the ugly duckling.

Then overnight he grew up and handsome.

But that ugliness you feel stays with you.

by Anonymous

reply 34

09/13/2013

I've always liked Hilary Bailey Smith but she's lets out quite a cunty vibe. So does Coleen Zenk. It's no surprise that they came to loggerheads.

Cat Hickland was a shit stirrer? The girl makes Ron Moss and Drake Hogestyn look like master thespians!She must have a magic pussy if she could snare both Hasselhoff and Tad the Cad.

I caught Mark Pinter on a Bell soap recently and he looked terrible! He's one step away from being a day player on Days or GH really. That was a scummy thing he did to Coleen then again their relationship began on a flimsy foundation of sorts.

by Anonymous

reply 35

09/13/2013

Yes, Duncan going to Chicago to pick up Jess at the police station and finding Shannon was the last time a soap really shocked me.

I don't know that Search would have expanded to an hour easily. GL and WT were classically structured two-family shows (a la Irna), whereas Search (and the earlier cancelled Love of Life) were not.

by Anonymous

reply 36

09/13/2013

I always thought Grant had a fascinating face. I love his strong jawline. It's pretty remarkable for a man not to develop something of a receding neck as he gets older but Grant looks exactly the same as he did in the 80s, it's actually frightening.

by Anonymous

reply 37

09/13/2013

Why didn't they just incorporate Search characters into ATWT and GL? They could have sent Jo to live in Springfield, for instance.

by Anonymous

reply 38

09/13/2013

Canadian actress Sara Botsford (E.N.G.) played Duncan's psycho wife

by Anonymous

reply 39

09/13/2013

I used to know one of the soap mag's writers and she said Colleen Zenk was a lovely person. Zenk got along great with Margaret Colin. She and HBS just didn't get along. It didn't help that HBS and Scott Holmes and Ben Hendrickson were palsy. She felt excluded and that she, as the vet, should have gotten a little more respect.

Other than Jo, who was memorable enough from Search at the end to send to another show? Liza was a tepid recast at that point. Sunny? Hogan and Patti, maybe.

by Anonymous

reply 43

09/13/2013

Margaret Colin is one of the few actors willing to go on record as being pro-life.

by Anonymous

reply 44

09/13/2013

Hillary is actually one of the most giving, fan-friendly, positive people in soaps.

Who's to say about Colleen and Mark? They had a long run. Yes, if he left her over the cancer, then that's shitty. Beyond shitty.

I think people who are good on the inside tend not to age on the outside. Of course, there are exceptios to that. Mabye that's why Grant stays young-looking.

In this interview with Mimi Torchin he talks about trying to be more kind.

by Anonymous

reply 45

09/13/2013

Just because a show doesn't have a classic 2-family structure doesn't mean it can't go to an hour. When AW, GL, and ATWT, not mention the ABC shows, expanded to an hour, they had already disbanded with that classic set-up. And GH obviously never even that format. I think Search was gypped of longevity.

by Anonymous

reply 46

09/13/2013

Grant always came off like a nice, humble guy. Very rare in show business. Kind of like Cam Mathison, but a little more talented. Compare them to people like Braeden, or Steve Burton, or Tom Eplin, who always seem/seemed like total pricks.

by Anonymous

reply 47

09/13/2013

[quote] Yes, if he left her over the cancer, then that's shitty. Beyond shitty.

He GAVE her cancer with all of the cheating he did!

by Anonymous

reply 48

09/13/2013

I think Steve is actually a nice guy at heart, he's just an unfortunate product of that horrible Middle America ethos. Melissa Reeves is the same. I think they are actually decent people, they just have a lack of sophistication and worldliness which makes them seem a bit on the homophobic and artless side.

by Anonymous

reply 49

09/13/2013

Grant must be mellow because he exudes confidence. His large, pendulous dong helps in that regard, too.

by Anonymous

reply 50

09/13/2013

R38, they did- in a way- years later when Mary Stuart played Meta Bauer.

How's that for Meta?

by Anonymous

reply 52

09/13/2013

I used to read Soap Opera Digest religiously and thought the actress who played TR Kendall on Search had the ugliest eyebrows.

Then Jane Krakwowski finally figured it on on her own.

by Anonymous

reply 53

09/13/2013

I've seen it, R51. Said this in other threads, but here goes....

I was at a press event he was at for GL, and when I was in the mens room pissing, he was two urinals down.

He was so visibly big SOFT, out of the corner of my eye, that I had to take a more direct look. (Luckily he was talking to a third guy, who was washing his hands at the sink.)

He is bigger half-hard or soft than I get when I'm hard. Whether that means he's a shower, and not a grower, I don't know. It was thick and had a really nice big noticeable knob on it.

Believe me, I've played that 11 seconds over in my mind many times!

by Anonymous

reply 54

09/13/2013

I'm Kim Hughes and welcome to "Patterns."

by Anonymous

reply 55

09/13/2013

{quote] Is it me, or is there something very creepy about the way Alan looks at Philip? I hate to say this, but it seems almost lutsful.

If you mean the original Alan, Chris Bernau, there was probably a homoerotic subtext there, since Chris was gay.

In story, it could have had to do with Alan's love for Phillip despite the fact that Alan wasn't his biological father.

by Anonymous

reply 56

09/13/2013

[quote] I'm Kim Hughes and welcome to "Patterns."

Listen, toots....

by Anonymous

reply 57

09/13/2013

I loved during Marland's tenure when the characters would hem and haw about where to go for dinner.

Somebody would be like, "How about the Mona Lisa?" and they'd all say, "Great!" as if there were any other option.

by Anonymous

reply 58

09/13/2013

r52 - LOL! I forgot about that.

Grant and Beverlee McKinsey had an incredible connection, kindred spirits in a way. I think he was very much a son to Bev.

by Anonymous

reply 59

09/13/2013

They could always order take out from the Pampered Palate.

by Anonymous

reply 60

09/13/2013

r58, and don't forget the impromptu free dinners at the Hughes house when any visitor that came through the door was allowed to feast on Kim and Nancy's stew and dumplings! Insert some dialogue about a long handed serving spoon that's gone missing and voila, you have Marland's Oakale in high concentrate form!

by Anonymous

reply 61

09/13/2013

R61...I love watching those scenes...I loved that they talked about "real," things like a serving spoon in a dishwasher amongst stalkers, and John's perv plans on Sierra..it made it seem real and very, very Zen like. Everything post Marland was all the two people invovled in the storyline standing and talking and being hyper dramatic and made it less interesting.

I also love the interest in food and eating and dinner that ALL the characters had...also, where everyone was "John took Andy to dinner and a movie," Half the time spent in Oakdale was people talking about where to eat, what to eat, who to eat with, where so and so was at the time, and what they might be eating.(lol on Pampered Palate and yes, good old Patterns.) Its amazing that we didnt know what we had when we were watching it

by Anonymous

reply 62

09/13/2013

R59, there was an article in the recent issue of Digest on Rick Hearst.

He said that he took over Alan Michael from Carl Evans, and when he took the story over, one of his first scenes was Blake calling him and telling him she lost their baby.

He cried during the call and when they yelled cut, Beverlee said "Omigod, we've got a real fucking actor here!"

He was happy to get her stamp of approval.

by Anonymous

reply 63

09/13/2013

yeah sure Bev, but Carl Tye Evans was hotter than Hearst.

by Anonymous

reply 64

09/13/2013

I think you mean, "Carl Tye Evans was gayer than Hearst."

by Anonymous

reply 65

09/13/2013

Now it makes sense. I thought HBS left ATWT because she was done acting- only to show up on OLTL for the next 20 years (and at one point simultaneously starring in a short-lived sitcom with Gene Wilder.)

She must have left because of a feud or something. I loved her as Margo. But Ellen Dolan worked well with Scott Holmes.

by Anonymous

reply 66

09/13/2013

R65 R64 I think what is meant here is "I wanted Carl Tye to administer penis beatings to my face on a regular basis more than I wanted Rick to administer penis beatings to my face."

by Anonymous

reply 67

09/13/2013

Speaking of Scott Holmes, he was another example of a recast that worked out well even though he looked nothing like his predecessor. The P&G soaps had a pretty good track record of hiring good actors instead of worrying about finding lookalikes.

by Anonymous

reply 68

09/13/2013

Amen to that, r68.

by Anonymous

reply 69

09/13/2013

Lindsay Frost managed to resemble Meg Ryan and be a good actress. When I saw her in "The Ring," I kept thinking how much she still resembles Ryan. It's not a full out thing you'd catch in a still photo, however...

by Anonymous

reply 70

09/13/2013

I've heard Scott was a regular at the East Side Club once upon a time, R68? Any takers?

And speaking of sex, there was a point when Grant's face got so thin, I was sure there'd be an announcement soon that he had AIDS. But he has since recovered from whatever made him so thin.

by Anonymous

reply 71

09/13/2013

Grant's wife looks old enough to be his mother. I remember her as an actress years ago, and she really aged badly.

by Anonymous

reply 72

09/13/2013

Is Jay Hammer bi-racial?

by Anonymous

reply 73

09/13/2013

Let's talk about the magic of Maura West.

by Anonymous

reply 74

09/13/2013

R74 She's so dreamy, she deserves her own thread. You could call it "Who Holds the Keys to Scott's Chastity Device?"

by Anonymous

reply 75

09/13/2013

R74 She's better on GH then on anything she's done before. No joke she's the saving grace of that show. Without her it would be unwatchable. She didn't have to carry ATWT. She was damn good in it but there was more of a balance to who was good on that show. I feel that way about most of the P & G soaps.

R70 I think Meg was cuter but LF was better at her role. LF had less of a goofy,Goldie Hawn thing going on. Meg had that in spades.

by Anonymous

reply 76

09/13/2013

Maura West could have been another Meg Ryan. It takes guts to leave the security of a successful soap role and go for Hollywood. Maura could have done it. She has IT.

by Anonymous

reply 77

09/13/2013

[quote] Speaking of Scott Holmes, he was another example of a recast that worked out well even though he looked nothing like his predecessor. The P&G soaps had a pretty good track record of hiring good actors instead of worrying about finding lookalikes.

Ahem!

by Anonymous

reply 78

09/13/2013

All the Alan-Michael's were hot.

The last guy, though...they fucked up because A-M by that point needed to be closer to 40, and Dempsey was clearly about 28.

AND they tried to pair him with Marina, so that meant someone at the writers' office forgot that at one time, A-M thought Marina was his baby.

(ew, ew ew)

by Anonymous

reply 79

09/13/2013

HBS didn't quit ATWT because she was through with acting. She wanted to pursue primetime

when that didn't work out, she wound up on OLTL

by Anonymous

reply 80

09/13/2013

Julia Lindsey Snyder was a worthy successor to Annie Dutton Lewis.

DISCUSS.

by Anonymous

reply 81

09/13/2013

Hubbard & MKA, more from the treasure trove:

by Anonymous

reply 82

09/13/2013

MKA & Bev, the infamous smashing of the wedding gifts scene:

by Anonymous

reply 83

09/13/2013

R82 Did Heather R look like a drag queen in that clip or not? No wonder we wanted Martha Byrne back. She might have not been gorgeous but she never looked like a cheap street walking tranny either!Her nose job was terrible as well. Not to mention her campy substandard acting. No wonder Terry Lester flew the coop......

by Anonymous

reply 84

09/13/2013

The clip at R82 is so mindblowing.

Sharon Case (now YR's Sharon) is in it. So is Joseph Breen.

And yes, Heather Rattray always looked very tranny.

by Anonymous

reply 85

09/13/2013

R83, that was the only time Alex ever apologized to India.

by Anonymous

reply 86

09/13/2013

I'm remembering someone getting tied up with Christmas lights???

by Anonymous

reply 87

09/13/2013

[quote]The P&G soaps had a pretty good track record of hiring good actors instead of worrying about finding lookalikes.

I completely agree.

by Anonymous

reply 88

09/13/2013

[quote] The P&G soaps had a pretty good track record of hiring good actors instead of worrying about finding lookalikes.

It is all due to P&G casting director Betty Rea

by Anonymous

reply 89

09/13/2013

GL had a few fabulous recasts for a while.

Liz Keifer and Rick Hearst, who were both better actors than their predecessors and made the roles their own.

As much as I love Bev M, Marj Dusay was great on her first go-round as Alex.

But then they had some heinous Mindy recasts, the bad Billy recast, etc.

by Anonymous

reply 90

09/13/2013

HBS says she tried out for the lead in the Diane English-created primtetime sit-com Love & War that debuted in 1992 in a cushy post Murphy Brown time slot.

The two finalists for the female lead were HBS and Susan Dey (of Partridge Family fame). Reportedly, Diane Enlglish thought HBS was better for the part and had more chemistry with male lead Jay Thomas, but ultimately cast Dey because she had more name recognition.

Shortly after losing that role, HBS signed on to OLTL as Nora.

As for Love & War, Diane English fired Susan Dey after one season and replaced her with Annie Potts. The show lasted two more seasons. But hardly anyone remembers it today.

by Anonymous

reply 91

09/13/2013

I remember how pretty Sharon Case was when she did GH but wow talk about that"hot librarian look with the glasses."Supposedly she didn't want to leave ATWT she wanted to explore Debbie's manic depression. That was Bell's snoozefest's gain and ATWT's loss really.

Speaking of Liz Keifer, isn't she doing one of those web series? I quite liked her on GL and I hope she finds work. One of the four remaining soaps(God knows what is happening with OLTL and AMC)could use her talents.

by Anonymous

reply 92

09/13/2013

ALAN Michael dating Marina was the sign for me to be over GL. It was horrendous!

Nothing was more shocking than Shannon's return from the dead. (except mube the killing of Maureen)

by Anonymous

reply 93

09/13/2013

Yes r87, I seem to remember that too. warren Burton's character tied up India with the Xmas lights... And the plugged them in lol!

Now there's one we don't hear much gossip about, Warren Burton. He was on several shows and he reminded me of my great aunt Jean.

by Anonymous

reply 94

09/13/2013

Remember when soaps went on those fabulous remotes ? I know they were rolling in the dough then but I wish they could still do them.

AW had 2 of my favorite remotes: Ryan and Vicky in the snowy Canadian Rockies and Jaime and Marly in Nice,France.

I remember running home after school to watch for their gorgeous remotes and the love stories

I know....MARY!!

by Anonymous

reply 95

09/13/2013

I can out Mary your Mary

Rachel, Mitch, Mack, and Janice in St Croix

by Anonymous

reply 96

09/14/2013

No Holden and Lily in Italy! Top that one....

by Anonymous

reply 97

09/14/2013

I can't decide....

MARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Anonymous

reply 98

09/14/2013

As far as AW remotes go, I second Rachel, Mac, Mitch and Janice in St. Croix. Amazing work, especially Rachel and Janice falling into the pool.

Another great AW remote was Cass, Cecile and Kathleen in Majorca in 1984.

That closing scene Cecile riding off in a yacht while Cass is on the dock cursing her, saying, "You're a bitch, Cecile."

Great stuff!

by Anonymous

reply 99

09/14/2013

Colleen Zenk is a sweetheart. A friend of mine worked on the show and said that there was unusually widespread fallout when she and Marc Pinter left their families to live together. Helen Wagner, for instance, asked to stop sharing a car with Colleen for the commute. But hard feelings eventually softened. ATWT was a very companionable set, with lots of long-lasting friendships and not much friction. Colleen was one of the family, and she eventually found her way back to the fold. My friend said that of all the shows she worked on, ATWT was by far the nicest -- in a different class -- though less so as Chris Goutman's reign, with its arbitrary favoritism and thoughtless disregard for the show's history and veterans, wore everyone down.

My friend also said that the cast and crew particularly liked Martha Byrne, who had the reputation of being the opposite of a prima donna. That may be why there didn't appear to be much resentment when her character took more and more airtime in the mid-eighties. Her leading men, especially Jon Hensley and Paolo Seganti, felt that even though she was younger than them, she lifted their performances beyond what they thought they were capable of. They were angry and outspoken -- unusually so, since they're both pretty easygoing -- when Goutman let her go, as was Elizabeth Hubbard, who thinks of her as a daughter.

Kim was a slut who slept with her sister's man and treated her husband John like shit. She is no heroine.

by Anonymous

reply 103

09/14/2013

My favorite remote was in one in Florida or wherever when Reva went off the bridge in her speeding car screaming "I'M COMIN' BUD!"

by Anonymous

reply 104

09/14/2013

I won't digress to much from P&G but I liked the Budapest remote for Erica and Dimitri. Made we want to go there, and it worked for the story. Sometimes remotes feel like they are just a travel commercial with the actors posing in front of hot tourist places, but this was organic to the plot. Sadly, this was near the end of AMC being good, and in a couple of years would start its decline.

by Anonymous

reply 105

09/14/2013

Erica and Dimitri? Who? Are they from Somerset?

by Anonymous

reply 106

09/14/2013

No, I think they were on the mothership Another World in Bay City for a bit!;) There is only really one of the remaining network soaps that even does remote shoots.One of them doesn't even do exterior any more. As lambasted as the P & G soaps were, they at least went abroad and made the best out of what budget they had.They also didn't have camp, sci-fi sets like Cassadine Island or Eterna!No aliens either as far as I remember........

by Anonymous

reply 107

09/14/2013

P&G soaps didn't have camp? Oh my sides. Soaps by their nature are campy fun and not to be taken seriously.

by Anonymous

reply 108

09/14/2013

[quote] P&G soaps didn't have camp?

Exhibit A The Clone storyline

by Anonymous

reply 109

09/14/2013

I think what r107 is trying to say is that the P&G soaps were not predominantly campy or defined by the fantasy element as opposed to Days and GH and the other ones.

by Anonymous

reply 110

09/14/2013

I would have loved Kate Collins to turn up on AW before it's cancellation playing young Ada in flashbacks of Rachel's childhood. I was so fascinated by the back story of those two, they were so much more gritter and down to earth than the cloying Erica/Mona on AMC. I tell you something, if Connie Ford had played Susan Lucci's mother, her character would have had that little bitch's mouth sewn shut.

by Anonymous

reply 111

09/14/2013

P&G had a special two-for-the-price-of-one "Bring Your Daughter-in-Law to Death" [italic]camp[/italic]aign in 1995. While ATWT's Orlena was poisoning Lily with lemon drops (or was it stamp glue?) in Malta, over at AW, Justine was sealing Vicky in behind a brick wall.

by Anonymous

reply 112

09/14/2013

After seeing GH, Y&R and the other ABC soaps shooting up in the ratings with far-out wild plots, P&G felt pressured to 'get with it'

They were like dinosaurs compared to the ABC soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 113

09/14/2013

Ada dancing in the kitchen. Simple times. It's not like you could switch on Y&R now and see Nikki doing this is it (reliving her stripper pole days with the mop and bucket)

by Anonymous

reply 114

09/14/2013

Thanks, R114. That was delightful. And it probably won't soon come again.

by Anonymous

reply 115

09/14/2013

[quotoe] Ada dancing in the kitchen.

Meanwhile DROVES of viewers where switching over to ABC & GH as Luke and Laura were out saving the world.

by Anonymous

reply 116

09/14/2013

I moved to Springfield in hopes of meeting one single person. I thought he was the fucking hottest thing ever. When he moved away so did I. I was always surprised he didn't find a bigger career outside of towns like Springfield.

by Anonymous

reply 117

09/14/2013

r116, you say that like it's a good thing. Every time they show a Luke and Laura clip, it's that fucking wedding which is the most unremarkable thing I have ever seen on daytime. If they want to demonstrate why that story hooked people, why not just show the rape scene? Better yet, remind them that Guiding Light did it much better with Roger and Holly.

by Anonymous

reply 118

09/14/2013

[quote] why not just show the rape scene?

It wasn't rape, it was a seduction

by Anonymous

reply 119

09/14/2013

Can somebody explain to me why Justine and Rachel were identical and not related? Why did Justine have the Dame Maggie Smith accent?

by Anonymous

reply 120

09/14/2013

That clip of Alex and India...love it. I wasn't watching it much then, but I loved Mary Kay Adams--- but I remember at one point she got really heavy. I thought she was still beautiful, but I'm glad the Internet wasn't around then; she would have been slammed for being "fat."

by Anonymous

reply 121

09/14/2013

[quote]Rachel, Mitch, Mack, and Janice in St Croix

My all-time favorite remote – the visuals, the music, the story. I wish it would show up on YouTube. There's a flashback to Rachel and Janice falling into the pool, but I'd love to see the whole sequence.

Incredible acting from John Wesley Shipp in that clip. Look at his eyes when he says "After you left Deja Vu, my life changed..." - absolutely terrifying! His charm & civility masked an absolute monster!

by Anonymous

reply 128

09/14/2013

R110 Thanks for that. I was referring to the camp,sci-fi styled sets like Cassadine Island(a poor man's Bond villain lair) and Eterna(an underground city!) Days and GH have been rife with vampires,demonic possession,an alien,international spy agencies, megalomaniacs that control the weather etc so on.P & G soaps in comparison were never that fantastical.

John Wesley Shipp. ....who was he topping at this time? Don't tell me that he was with Holden! I would just die.

by Anonymous

reply 129

09/14/2013

John Wesley Shipp's two Emmy wins. Such a handsome boy:

by Anonymous

reply 130

09/14/2013

[quote]"I've been given some wacky, wonderful storylines that haven't always been, you know, easy because they've been a little weird. I've been Amish. I've been a clone. And I've been a PRINCESS! But I'm mostly proud to be able to say that I have made my career in daytime television and I say that with PRIDE."

by Anonymous

reply 131

09/14/2013

r129

JWS is a top? That shocks me...

by Anonymous

reply 132

09/14/2013

Didn't he top James Van Der Beek?

by Anonymous

reply 133

09/14/2013

I don't think Liz was better as Blake than Sherry Stringfield was.

Liz Keifer and the original Blake Elizabeth Dennehy are both fine actresses, but Sherry brought such a great energy to the show.

Watch how she handles herself with Bev's Alex in this scene.

That said, nobody could touch MKA in terms of actresses in that age range. MKA is one of a kind.

by Anonymous

reply 134

09/14/2013

Can we keep this thread about P&G soaps please? I don't want to hear about sex!!!!

by Anonymous

reply 135

09/14/2013

Here's Phillip seeing teen Alan-Michael for the first time after he parachuted into the Bauer barbeque in 1987.

Is it me...or does he make a questionable hand gesture around 1:25?

by Anonymous

reply 136

09/14/2013

Lesbian vibe between Holly & Alex:

by Anonymous

reply 137

09/14/2013

Sorry - Sherry may have played a better bitch, but Liz was a much better rounded Blake.

Q: At the time you were dealing with this offer, you were also dealing with an offer to create a new role (Frank's father) on Guiding Light. What tipped the scales?

TL: (laughing) It was a better part. No, I can't tell you that without getting my legs broken. These two people sitting beside me, for starters. I've known Laurie since he was a CBS executive, and I have admired Douglas' work since I began watching soaps 12 years ago.

Q: What can you tell us about Royce - and the name?

DM: Just from the lunch and from meeting Terry (when he came to New York last June to attend the Daytime Emmys), I immediately envisioned him as an architect. I think we did talk about (Ayn Rand's) The Fountainhead at lunch, and that may have clicked it into place. There are not a lot of architects in daytime, and architects are a very romantic profession. It's a man who works alone, who has a vision, who sees something and then puts it on paper and then supervises it until the end of the construction. It's someone who works alone, like a writer, and that kind of separates them from the people who work with a lot of people and it makes them more romantic. I have a Rolls-Royce, and I want a name to look and rounds like a person's character. Royce has class. I played Chris Keller when I was an actor in All My Sons. I always loved that name because it was short and snappy. So that's how Royce Keller came along.

Q: In what areas will we see Royce interact?

DM: The Lucinda group, because she wants him to stay on to design the Worldwide towers, and he moves very quickly into all of Oakdale. I think by the time he's been on the show two weeks he's mixed with everyone but the Snyders. And we'll get him to Luthers Corners eventually.

Q: Having created roles and taken over a role...

TL: Starting from the beginning is much more pleasant. Usually, when a character is recast it's because the actor playing it was popular, s oyou have to deal with that. You have to deal with the possibility of intense rejection, and you have to honor the character and his history and the actor who played the part while making it your own, and it's very tricky. It's a very difficult balance. I'm glad I had that experience; now I know what Peter Bergman went through (when he took over as Y&R's Jack). He was more successful at it than I was, as it turned out.

by Anonymous

reply 140

09/14/2013

Q: How does Royce compare to Jack and Mason?

TL: I would say someone like Jack had virtually no integrity at all, and Mason the same way, but probably to a lesser extent. I think Royce has a great deal of integrity because he has come from a not-so-fortunate background, and everything he has he has earned on his merits, and so his work and his word mean a lot to him. Whereas the two other guys were just liars and didn't care. [But] he's not a saint.

Q: Since this role is being created for you, are there elements of your personality we may see for the first time?

TL: Yeah, probably. I think this guy isn't a smart ass, for one thing, and I think people are used to seeing that from me. He's not without a sense of the absurdity of things at times, but he's still more serious and thoughtful, which I guess is like the private me, the one thing I don't show often.

Q: Did you have any trepidation about joining a cast with so many heavy hitters?

TL: Yeah! But I survived that once. When I started on The Young and the Restless I was just another blond, and it took me a year and a half to really figure out what to do about that. Actors are always worried about that, but Mr. Caso assured me months ago. There's one big difference in style between Y&R and As the World Turns, in that there are more ensemble scenes, and that's how this show can manage to have such a big cast, because so many people can work at the same time, whereas on that other show, it was two, maybe three, and the third one comes in and doesn't stay very long.

Q: What was your impression of Kelly (Menighan, who plays Emily)?

TL: Well, when I saw her on television before I met her, her attributes were obvious, and when we met we developed a real immediate rapport. She's kind of a no-nonsense person, but she has a sense of humor and she's very responsive when we work together. We're not ready for Romeo and Juliet, but I think we have the basis for a really good thing.

Q: Are there any plans for a Keller family?

DM: No. He will acquire his family as he goes - onscreen people.

Q: Most of the time we write about actors leaving New York soaps and moving to L.A. What was the reaction of your compatriots in California about your reverse migration?

TL: I had to stare down so many astonished looks. It's just people's habitual thinking. Everyone my age in California had this thing about California, the big migration. And it's no longer the promised land.

by Anonymous

reply 141

09/14/2013

Terry Lester, gone from this earth way too soon. THank you, R140-141.

by Anonymous

reply 142

09/14/2013

Oh my god...

by Anonymous

reply 143

09/14/2013

Interesting interview. Funny how TL admitted how Berman succeeded where he failed.However the most important question was missing. Doug, what did Terry's "feets" taste like?

by Anonymous

reply 144

09/14/2013

I meant : Bergman succeeded where he had failed.

by Anonymous

reply 145

09/14/2013

Doug Marland and Terry Lester - two men gone way too soon.

Marland died just a few months later.

by Anonymous

reply 146

09/14/2013

Lily finds out The Truth about Aaron, as well as an even more shocking truth:

by Anonymous

reply 147

09/14/2013

So sad how ATWT destroyed the character of Iva.

Wasted the potential of Aaron, of Julie....ugh. Pisses me off.

by Anonymous

reply 148

09/14/2013

R148, what ever happened to Little Miss Seattle? Did she disappear before DM died?

by Anonymous

reply 149

09/14/2013

I loved Julie Wendell and Carly Tenney's friendship. Kindred spirits or what? Douglas Marland's number 1 siren officially handing over the baton to the blonde vixen who would come to define the show in its final years:

I completely forgot about Julie and Carly having a connection, R150. I wish they'd kept Julie.

Two other things: why did they go to the trouble of making Jack a Snyder cousin when they could just as easily used him as the next Caleb. Graham Winton was long gone and it always seemed so complicated, having this Snyder-once-removed around.

Also, the SEP has to be my favorite ATWT set.

by Anonymous

reply 152

09/14/2013

Terry Lester was gay, right?

And did he die of AIDS or a heart attack? I hear conflicting reports.

by Anonymous

reply 153

09/14/2013

If Jensen Buchanan had decided to remain as Vicky when she and Tom Eplin travelled from one 'World' to the next, would she have seen her screentime increase or diminish? If you think about it, Maura West was the Jensen Buchanan on ATWT, in terms of airtime. To be honest though, Vicky had been a shadow of her former self since Anne Heche played the role all those years ago. I don't think AW fans were thrilled about ATWT reviving those characters. It's always a sore point when characters from a cancelled soap turn up on another because their past story developments are going to be A) Lost on viewers and B) facets of character from their home show may be ignored completely in order to integrate them onto the new canvas.

In my opinion, crossovers like this do not work.

by Anonymous

reply 154

09/14/2013

Good scene of Barbara laying into Carly when she returned from Hong Kong. I believe this was when Hogan Sheffer's material started airing. You can feel the electricity in the air here can't you? As if all the actors are coming to life again after that late 90s drought:

by Anonymous

reply 155

09/14/2013

r153, I have no idea. I don't think Terry would want us to pry. Let's pay our respects by continuing to discuss what an outstanding actor he is and how he lit up any show he graced with such a masculine elegance.

by Anonymous

reply 156

09/14/2013

R153, someone I trust not to lie about such things told me he used to hook up with Terry while he was on ATWT and my friend was going to Columbia.

by Anonymous

reply 157

09/14/2013

R153 Terry died of AIDS yes.It doesn't diminish what he did on the Bell soap,Santa Barbara or ATWT though.Terry was one of a kind. He is one of many that died from AIDS who appeared on P & G soaps. Just look at the Edge Of Night actors.

R154 I like Jensen she's a great beauty to be honest. Not the best Vicky/Marly combo though.Tom Eplin always had a smart alec look on his face. He seems like he's a bit of a frat boy. ABC tried something similar to what P & G had done but it hasn't worked either(the crossover after a cancellation).

by Anonymous

reply 158

09/14/2013

The last Alan-Michael was hung too. There was an episode where he was in his underwear and a bulge was VERY noticeable. Sadly there aren't too many of his episodes on youtube.

by Anonymous

reply 159

09/14/2013

Sometimes the promise of a bulge is the disappointment of "all balls." I had a friend with the biggest bulge, and, well, you get the picture.

by Anonymous

reply 160

09/14/2013

Terry did not deserve that fate. I've not read Jeanne Cooper's book but apparently she writes quite the love letter to him. He was a real star, a real leading man, a maverick.

The loss of Lester and Marland was definitely sad but I was destroyed when Douglas Watson passed away so suddenly.

He was on vacation and had a heart attack in his hotel's gym.

I cried like the Mary boy I was. I always wanted Mac Cory to be my dad.

by Anonymous

reply 163

09/14/2013

Me too, R163. And it was before I read Soap Spoiler Weekly, so I was truly as surprised as Rachel.

Once upon a time, Scott DeFrietas was asked why he thought ATWT was so popular, and he said it was because of "the fantasy of a large, multi-generational family that works." It is just a fantasy, obviously -- what's more dysfunctional than a soap family? -- but it is what drew me to the P&G soaps, I realized. And there was no family I more wanted to be a part of than the Corys.

by Anonymous

reply 164

09/14/2013

Mac Cory was the ultimate patriach, the self made man of wealth with a heart of gold - what could be more American than that kind of fantasy figure! It says a lot about the state of soaps that his successor in this function has Victor Newman, a cynical and bitter character all too prolific in real life.

by Anonymous

reply 165

09/14/2013

Have Scott DeFrietas and Matt Crane ever been in the same room together?

by Anonymous

reply 166

09/14/2013

Was Mac Cory "self made"? I wasn't around in the early days, but I thought I'd read that he'd grown up in a silver spoon household, too. No?

by Anonymous

reply 167

09/14/2013

R166, you are making me positively giddy.

by Anonymous

reply 168

09/14/2013

As a gay teen who hadn't come out Mac was the father I desired.

He loved his kids unconditionally. He would never turn away his child for being gay. Such a huge capacity to love in that character-be it his kids, his friends or his wife.

by Anonymous

reply 169

09/14/2013

Tennis, anyone?

by Anonymous

reply 170

09/14/2013

Mac and Rachel had some really vile arguments sometimes. Never have a soap opera couple adored and abused each other as much as they did.

by Anonymous

reply 171

09/14/2013

r168, I can't be the only one who gets them mixed up! They both married two of soap opera's most alluring actresses - Maura West and Robin Christopher. Not bad for a couple of fresh faced pretty boys, eh? I am convinced that if 'Andy' and 'Matthew' had been used in one of those ill conceived crossover scenarios, a black hole would have opened up in the universe and destroyed both 'Worlds' at once! I can't differentiate between them. There's some weird meta shit going on there.

by Anonymous

reply 172

09/14/2013

IMO Douglas Watson and Tony Geary are/were the best male criers in the soap biz.

They could tear up, do the full on ugly cry and every manner in between.

If they cried I'd be a boo hooing puddle right along with them.

I miss that about soaps. I loved being so moved by a storyline that I could be brought to tears. That is such a rare thing now.

I still remember Mac on the witness stand when he found out Matthew wasn't his. Mac sobbed in disbelief and I sobbd with him.

by Anonymous

reply 173

09/14/2013

Well, I never mixed them up, R172, but dirty blonde is a hair color I cherish. Also, Scott had a very oval face and Matt's was blocky, all right angles.

by Anonymous

reply 174

09/14/2013

Tearful Mary R173, when was that trial? I would love to have seen that, but I didn't start watching until 1988.

by Anonymous

reply 175

09/14/2013

The only saving grace of Douglas Watson's passing was that he died before having to witness the drastic decline in quality of the medium he had made his name in.

by Anonymous

reply 176

09/14/2013

Here is Mac on the witness stand having his own Karen Wolek moment - one for the guys! :-)

by Anonymous

reply 177

09/14/2013

R171, you are correct about Mac and Rachel.

She had a great line where she said that yes, Mac had all these other women who pursued him (as Rachel did), but the difference she said was, "I loved you."

I miss the days in which we knew all the soaps; now I can barely keep up on the four broadcast ones.

They're not as compelling.

by Anonymous

reply 178

09/14/2013

R171

The vast majority of current soap fans want to be coddled. They would go mad if their 'couple' went thru a tenth of what Mac/Rachel did.

They loved each other deeply but they could also hurt each other just as deeply. Their court case for the custody of Amanda made Kramer vs Kramer look like playtime at the park.

The writing,acting,direction was as good as any movie. Soaps have never been as good as AW in it's prime

by Anonymous

reply 179

09/14/2013

Thanks r177.

*sob*

by Anonymous

reply 180

09/14/2013

NBC throwing many of the 70s episodes of Another World in the Hudson is an act of cultural terrorism as far as I'm concerned. And yet only fans of the show seem to realize this. What Harding Lemay was turning out could rival any HBO original drama, all of which enjoy boxsets and reruns. And what do we get? What?!

by Anonymous

reply 181

09/14/2013

Yes, Mac was definitely the ideal father figure. Probably the best of all the father figures on any of the soaps. Loving and completely accepting, able to offer sage advice, but also had flaws. Not just a figure-head of the show, but an active character.

I'd say John Abbott came the next closest creating that ideal father figure after Mac Cory.

by Anonymous

reply 182

09/14/2013

R177

OMG! Than you.

I kill for a cleaner clip.

by Anonymous

reply 183

09/14/2013

R181

If I'm not mistaken AW's super fan named Eddie has a treasure trove of AW videos from back in the day.

In the past NBC has gone to him and used clips from his collection.

He has an AW website

by Anonymous

reply 184

09/14/2013

Excuse the typos.

I'll blame it on the tears.

by Anonymous

reply 185

09/14/2013

VW's accent definitely became more English once Rachel was with Carl. You can almost hear Connie Ford's voice speaking from heaven in this clip - "What's she talking like that for?"

by Anonymous

reply 186

09/14/2013

Back when DL had the good soap gossip someone said that Douglas Watson was bisexual and Charles Keating was straight.

They also said Vicky W. had affairs with both men. She nearly quit AW in the aftermath of Watson's death.

by Anonymous

reply 187

09/14/2013

Hey, what about me?

by Anonymous

reply 188

09/14/2013

Phillip, you are a demanding little thing.

Scroll back. You were discussed earlier.

by Anonymous

reply 189

09/14/2013

At one point P&G though VW and DW were too expensive so Mac and Rachel were going to take a VERY long cruise down the Dalmatian coast.

I heard DW was quite a dirty daddy-he may even have gotten into bed with castmate John Travolta when they were both in the Broadway musical Over Here! in 1973.

by Anonymous

reply 190

09/14/2013

I never thought much of Marland as a writer. His stories on ATWT were totally cliche-ridden. What made the show so special was the day to day writing, which entailed numerous characters interacting and gossiping (as a way to recap the plots), giving the show a much more fluid and naturalistic feel than most of the other shows. I think that is what soap viewers want to see most. The stories are secondary. The daily writing was brilliant, and I think that really served to mask Marland's flaws. Subsequent HWs essentially told the same tired old stories, but they tanked the show because they weren't nearly as adept as Marland at putting those type of brilliant exposition scenes together.

by Anonymous

reply 191

09/14/2013

I thought John Bolger(ex-Philip, GL & ex-Gabe, AW) was HOT!

by Anonymous

reply 192

09/14/2013

Well you can't blame NBC alone, there are only a handful of shows who had people running them with the foresight to keep their tapes in tact and not wipe them and reuse them. But even the shows with full catalogs aren't really doing anything with them. I would love to see Days, YR, and The Doctors from the beginning, but there's only a small market for these niche programs. Even PG with tapes for the majority of their shows going back to about 1978 don't really see the value in sharing them in any form.

Of the remaining shows, they're all missing three essential characters; the grandmotherly talk to, the grandfatherly talk to, and the busy body town gossip. I guess those types of characters have fallen by the wayside, but are essential on soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 193

09/14/2013

Vicky Wyndham's real name is Victoria Camargo. She's half Mexican. These days that Camargo name would have suited her rather well. Her son is using that last name as a stage name.

Oh and Vicky's faux English accent was just a little annoying. It sounded more like Grace Kelly's phony diction than a real English accent.Oh and VW had nothing on Madonna.

by Anonymous

reply 194

09/14/2013

Did any of the AW characters cross over to Somerset? I imagine characters like Ada and her dish rag did some Somerset episodes, since her brother Sam and his wife Lahoma were two of the lead characters in the beginning.

by Anonymous

reply 195

09/14/2013

I used to wish my own father was more like Mac.

by Anonymous

reply 196

09/14/2013

The following characters crossed over to Somerset (45 miles away from Bay City) in the first year:

Rachel

Ada

Jim

Steve

Pat

John

Ted

by Anonymous

reply 197

09/14/2013

Thanks r197.

by Anonymous

reply 198

09/14/2013

R192 I always thought John was hot too. I think if you put him and Grant side by side now John has actually aged better - and he's about 5 years older, too.

by Anonymous

reply 199

09/14/2013

R199

Bolger looks good but I'd still chose Grant. Grant looks good and still has his hair.

by Anonymous

reply 200

09/15/2013

Hahaha, R199 R200. I thought you were talking about John Hudson and Grant Harrison.

by Anonymous

reply 201

09/15/2013

How interesting r201. So you noticed the homoerotic chemistry between Dack Rambo and David Forsyth as well.

by Anonymous

reply 202

09/15/2013

Yum! John Hudson was dreamy when he first arrived in Bay City

I remember him driving around, checking out his old high school, basket ball court, etc...all the while Springsteen's song My Hometown played in the background.

Great introduction of a character.

by Anonymous

reply 203

09/15/2013

Anyone else remember hunky Michael Nouri ?

by Anonymous

reply 204

09/15/2013

R202, I was actually thinking of Mark Pinter when I wrote that, but yes, I do recall an attraction between DR and DF in Grant's first incarnation.

by Anonymous

reply 205

09/15/2013

R202 Yeah John Hudson was perfect wasn't he?He had that mountain man act down pat. AW had some guys that weren't garden variety pretty boys like him. Remember Bill Espy? A good friend of mine looked at him and said that he looked like an action adventure guy,sort of like a soap version of Charles Bronson!

by Anonymous

reply 206

09/15/2013

Vicky Wyndham was top billed OVER both Connie Ford and Bev Penberthy who had more seniority.

Another World

Starring

Victoria Wyndham

as

Rachel Davis Cory

by Anonymous

reply 207

09/15/2013

[quote]At one point P&G though VW and DW were too expensive so Mac and Rachel were going to take a VERY long cruise down the Dalmatian coast.

Was it P&G or NBC? I was always told that P&G valued them very highly. Though it's certainly true that, storywise, they were relegated to humdrum domesticity for too many years.

by Anonymous

reply 208

09/15/2013

NBC paid the licensing fee to P&G

P&G paid the cast salaries and controlled the budget,

by Anonymous

reply 209

09/15/2013

R207 The Maggie Horton troll again? No matter Vicky deserved top billing no matter how misused she was she was the grand dame of that show. It could have been Anna Stuart BUT it was Vicky stayed the course.

R209 Don't think that the network doesn't or didn't have pull on any non network owned soaps and that included the P & G and Sony soaps.How do you think the ATWT and Y & R crossovers happened? The network CBS made it happen only with Sony and P & G's involvement.Just because Sony owns Days and Y & R don't think for one moment that NBC and CBS don't influence what goes on those shows.

by Anonymous

reply 210

09/15/2013

I didn't like Michael Baldwin crossing over to Oakdale.

It would have worked but A) He was Kirk McColl there and B) He didn't say to nuDiane, wow, you look just like Carly.

by Anonymous

reply 211

09/15/2013

I can still remember the three cold open scenes of the first ATWT episode I ever saw. Meg and Toni got married amongst soap bubble, Barbara came to the Mona Lisa with Paul and Andy and Lisa greeted them and Barbara told Lisa that with Hal and Margo in Greece together looking for Craig that Tom (still in absentia in DC) had lost. Then we cut to Betsy and David Stewart on the phone to Margo. Hal starts kissing Margo's neck and when she gets off the phone, they start full on making out.

Glissando...

by Anonymous

reply 212

09/15/2013

Rachel and Mac had a love like that song 'Halo' by Beyonce. When it was good, it was heaven.

by Anonymous

reply 213

09/15/2013

Did we ever know if Sandy escorted for men as well as women? Is Ilsa Fredericks around to field this question?

by Anonymous

reply 214

09/15/2013

R209/R210 P&G soaps were harder to work on, from what many writers and producers said, because they had to get not only the network but P&G to sign off on stories. AND the advertisers, and, and, and.

This blogger wrote some pretty good stuff about P&G shows, and he did a good breakdown here. Including:

"I keep going back to these thoughts when I hear things like, “But this story happened under XYZ’s watch! He/she is responsible! They are ultimately the producer!”

I remember being on the P&G message boards years ago. Alina Adams, who has written several of the P&G related books, was a moderator. After a particularly brutal exchange on why X or Y story hadn’t happened, or hadn’t gone the way it should, Alina explained the chain of approval needed to get on the air.

It was a dizzying list of names, and writers and producers were hardly factored into the algorithm. Network heads, affiliates, advertisers, P&G, CBS – they all had a say in the storytelling, much more than they’d ever had before."

by Anonymous

reply 215

09/15/2013

I remember Eileen Fulton commenting in one of the mags that she felt sorry for the HW at the time, Lorraine Broderick, because she had heard that none of her stories that were vet-centered were getting approval from P&G or the network. The only one she was really able to push through was Kim's heart attack, but even that was a watered down version of what she had proposed.

by Anonymous

reply 216

09/15/2013

I remember when ABC ran a commercial for it's soaps and Alexsander was on ABC at the time. There he was poolside in a Speedo.

Grrrrrrrrrrr .....too bad there aren't screenshots around from those 80s days.

by Anonymous

reply 217

09/15/2013

There's a famous episode of GL where Grant clearly got a hard on while watching the Mindy character. He was in a pair of shorts and in one shot you could see a pretty sizeable tent.

by Anonymous

reply 218

09/15/2013

R210 CBS had absolutely NO say in what went one with Y&R and B&B

Bill Bell had total creative control, his past record speaks for themselves.

Bill Bell informed CBS what storyline were coming up, and the network had ZERO say in it.

by Anonymous

reply 219

09/15/2013

Aleksander was on AMC in the mid-90s. He wore his speedo on Capitol in the 80s.

by Anonymous

reply 220

09/15/2013

Grant got his hard on while watching Mindy do yoga in August 1983.

I'm amazed they let that scene air.

by Anonymous

reply 221

09/15/2013

[quote] Bill Bell informed CBS what storyline were coming up, and the network had ZERO say in it.

That may have been the case while Bill Bell was in charge, but it sure ain't the case now.

Supposedly the fact that CBS and Sony couldn't agree on story is a big reason why Josh Griffith just quit.

by Anonymous

reply 222

09/15/2013

r221

proof or it didn't happen

by Anonymous

reply 223

09/15/2013

r223 Would love it if I still had the tape of the episode.

But I don't. So, I guess by your definition it never happened.

The scene of Mindy doing yoga while Phillip watched was included in the opening credits of that era. You'll see Phillip in shorts leaning against his knee to cover the hard on from the camera. It's at the 24 second mark in the video linked below.

That shot included in the opening credits came about 15 seconds after he got the erection on camera. Grant quickly scrambled to cover it up by leaning against his knee.

by Anonymous

reply 224

09/15/2013

My favorite GL opening was the disco version!

Complete with Nola's screen and Tony's "Yah" karate kick!

by Anonymous

reply 225

09/15/2013

Kim Zimmer talked about it at events, too. I think she may have taken a swing on Grant at some point, the way she talked about it.

by Anonymous

reply 226

09/15/2013

r226 Kim may have talked about it.

It was likely the talk of the studio for years!

But Kim wouldn't have been there to witness it. She didn't join the show until November 1983.

Kim was already married to AC Weary by the time she joined the show. But she could have hit on Grant (he's only four years younger that she is). According to her book, Kim, Grant, Robert Newman, Michael O'Leary and others of the younger cast often went out partying after work. Several times to Studio 54.

by Anonymous

reply 227

09/15/2013

This will be the MARY!est comment in the entire history of DL, but this still makes me cry when I hear it.

It just takes me back to the summer I started watching the show, all those characters...all the people who watched with me and are no longer alive...

yes, I know....MARY!

by Anonymous

reply 228

09/15/2013

[quote]all the people who watched with me and are no longer alive...

Same here, R228. There were three guys who watched GL and we'd have dinner Sunday nights and inevitably talk about happenings in Springfield. And they're all gone now. One died just a little before Maureen Bauer.

by Anonymous

reply 229

09/15/2013

Well, cheers to us and to those who aren't with us anymore...and all our onscreen friends too, R229.

by Anonymous

reply 230

09/15/2013

Nola seemed so fun.

Iva was so dour.

by Anonymous

reply 231

09/15/2013

The brilliant new JJ on Days reminds me of Carl T. Evans.

Colleen Zenk's major feud in the early 80's was with Jackie Schultz. They were both vying for leading lady on ATWT and Jackie had the producer's balls in her hands. Literally.

Beverlee McKinssey despised the acting of both Dana Kimmell and Catherine Hickland on Texas and got them both fired.

by Anonymous

reply 232

09/15/2013

Ooh, new dirt at R232!

I know Colleen had quite a few feuds over her tenure.

And yes, R231, I agree. Iva was an interesting character but far less fun than Nola. I was kind of bummed that she never got to evolve past Sob Sister #1.

by Anonymous

reply 233

09/15/2013

Morgan Englund was the hottest guy ever on GL.

by Anonymous

reply 234

09/15/2013

I've heard the story of Grant and the hard on; I think it may have made it into an issue of a soap mag, but I never saw it.

If he got hard watching Mindy to yoga that pretty much kills the gay rumors.

I heard Peter Reckell held a pillow over his crotch when Shawn and Belle walked in on Bo and Hope making out. I think it was more the actor's choice, meaning "Bo" had the hard on -- not Peter, if that makes sense.

I miss these shows, the characters were like old friends; families stood by families; friends were friends. There were so few guy-centric friendships on soaps.

Rick and Phillip were one; I thought the Phillip/Alan-Michael dynamic was nice, too. Phillip was always trying to protect A-M from making the same mistakes with Alan that he had.

by Anonymous

reply 235

09/16/2013

While Phillip was a favorite, of course, I think Grant probably had a lot of fun playing DJ on Capitol and Alec on AMC; both of those guys got to be TOTAL dicks, really messing with ladies' emotions.

by Anonymous

reply 236

09/16/2013

I watched Capitol but I rember so little of it.

I don't even remember Grant being on it.

by Anonymous

reply 237

09/16/2013

R237, it was a 6 month gig in '86, I think. He was back on GL in late 86 in time for the Christmas episode.

He should have won the Emmy for Phillip dethroning Alan at Spaulding in May '88.

by Anonymous

reply 238

09/16/2013

R234 I met Morgan Englund once while walking through Chelsea in the '90s. He was as charming in person as he seemed on the show. He was coming out of a building on 7th Avenue as I was walking past, and I kind of cruised him and I thought he was cruising me back. He gave me the biggest smile. And then he did this little hand gesture, and I realized I had simply recognized "Dylan Lewis" and he was responding to that.

I asked him if it bothered him, being recognized by strangers, and he said he actually thought it was pretty cool. He had said something in a SOW interview about noisy neighbors in the building where he lived, and we talked about that for a minute. And then he went his way and I went mine.

I thought he was the hottest guy ever, too. However, even though he lived in Chelsea, I didn't get the impression he was gay.

by Anonymous

reply 239

09/16/2013

R219 I can't believe that. When Bell wanted to do that Katherine Chancellor lesbian storyline decades ago in what happened? Don't tell me that Screen Gems,Columbia Tri-Star/Sony whatever the heck they called themselves didn't get involved. As well as the network. As the previous poster said, P and G soaps had to go through a whole array of OKs to do storylines.

R232 Did Kin Shriner get along with La Bev? I didn't catch Texas at the time. I've only seen snippets of it on you tube. I was so GH obsessed at the time I didn't bother to put on NBC 4 in NYC at the time!However I did catch the other P & G soaps though.

R234 he's that wretched witch,Cloris Leachman's son isn't he? He was good looking I don't know about the best looking though.

by Anonymous

reply 240

09/16/2013

R234 R240 Morgan Englund made me want to take my pants off more than any GL cast member until Sean McDermott sunned himself on a rock as the second Hart Jessup.

by Anonymous

reply 241

09/16/2013

[quote] When Bell wanted to do that Katherine Chancellor lesbian storyline decades ago in what happened?

According to The Soap Opera Encyclopedia written by Christopher Schermering

With the audience reaction overwhelming negative, the lesbian storyline - the first real homoerotic plot in daytime TV - was quickly truncated, marking the first time Y&R backed away from controversy.

-page 242

If the network and Screen Gems,Columbia Tri-Star/Sony didn't want the story, it wouldn't even made it that far. It wouldn't have made it on-air. Bill Bell was the one who killed it, not the network of the production company.

by Anonymous

reply 242

09/16/2013

Who were the gays on the P&G soaps?

by Anonymous

reply 243

09/16/2013

R242 It still doesn't stipulate that the production company or the network isn't involved. From the dawn of television, the suits at the networks have been involved in shows even if they are not producing them. There is a Bell soap thread so let's continue it there,it's not fair to the great fans of P & G soaps to hear about the rather boring Bell soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 244

09/16/2013

[quote]it's not fair to the great fans of P & G soaps to hear about the rather boring Bell soaps.

True dat.

by Anonymous

reply 245

09/16/2013

R243 Joel Crothers on Edge Of Night. He had that gay clone/Tom Selleck look down pat.

Terry Lester on ATWT.

Dack Rambo on AW claimed he was bi, take that for what it's worth.

Douglass Watson from AW was supposedly bi as well.

by Anonymous

reply 246

09/16/2013

I always thought Morgan Englund was such a potato-faced bore. Never liked him or saw the hotness.

Almost every actor who played Hart was hot. I did like Frank Grillo.....talk about a hot man!

Both the Phillips fed my fapping fantasies. Frank Dicopolous had pecs for days when he first came on, too.

That's one thing GL got lazy about in later years...not enough hunks.

by Anonymous

reply 247

09/16/2013

[quote] Who were the gays on the P&G soaps?

On GL, definitely Chris Bernau (and as we know now, Maureen Garrett.)

On ATWT, I believe Benjamin Hendrickson.

by Anonymous

reply 248

09/16/2013

Damn, the guy who played sexy Daniel St. John (David Bishins) turned into a hot daddy!

by Anonymous

reply 249

09/16/2013

Does Michael Park still go to the bathhouses?

by Anonymous

reply 250

09/16/2013

Who was Mike Bauer's assistant that briefly dated Hilary? Was his name Neil or something?

by Anonymous

reply 251

09/16/2013

Leonard Stabb (Hart #1) was one of the most handsome young men ever on GL.

Frank Grillo (Hart #3) was incredibly sexy. He's had a very good career since, he's doing a lot of feature film work.

Sean McDermott (Hart #2) was incredibly nelly so he didn't last long (3 months?). I'll never forget his delivery of the line "It's not all about you, Dylan!" That made me giggle uncontrollably. Very cute, though, and a good singer.

by Anonymous

reply 252

09/16/2013

Frank Grillo was disgustingly hot. He and wife Wendy Moniz (Dinah) live or used to live in Chelsea. I'd see them walking on 8th Ave from time to time a few years ago. He is just head-turning gorgeous IRL, with BDF to boot. He's the type of guy who looks like he was built for sex. He'd almost always have flip-flops on, and you feets trolls should know he had beautiful feets.

by Anonymous

reply 253

09/16/2013

Frank Grillo nude:

by Anonymous

reply 254

09/16/2013

Frank Grillo has aged really well. He went from a Guido-type guy to a really hot, lean Italian daddy.

by Anonymous

reply 255

09/16/2013

My ranking of PG soaps from best to worst of all time:

1) Another World

2) The Guiding Light

3) The Edge of Night

4) As the World Turns/Our Private World

5) Somerset

6) Search for Tomorrow

7) Lovers and Friends/For Richer For Poorer

8) Texas

9) Young Doctor Malone

10)The Brighter Day

11) From These Roots

12) The Catlins

13) The First Hundred Years

by Anonymous

reply 256

09/16/2013

Frank Grillo's career is quite interesting. He did a lot of forgettable prime-time series/movie work post GL, but in the last few years, as he's approached 50, his film career seems to have really taken off. And yes, he still looks great. Turned 50 this past June.

by Anonymous

reply 257

09/16/2013

r256, I agree with your first three, though I'd probably swap Edge with GL. GL was the more popular, but Edge was a more consistently and better written show IMO. ATWT was the marquis P&G show, but there was something so average and banal about the show for most of its run that it doesn't deserve to be #1. I'd probably also rank Texas a little higher. The second year was amazing, and I think people remember that more than L&F/FRFP. Was the Catlins a P&G soap? It was all kinds of awful, but kinda fun to watch. I never saw From These Roots, but from everything I've read, it was a very literate show and very ahead of its time.

by Anonymous

reply 258

09/16/2013

r256, are you old enough to remember Our Private World? Was Lisa the Carrie Bradshaw of her time?

by Anonymous

reply 259

09/16/2013

If you were Megan Gordon, would you have chosen Leonard Stabb or Joe Lando?

by Anonymous

reply 260

09/16/2013

Joe Lando. He had that rugged mountain man look. Seems like he's an animal in bed. I've always wondered if Jessica Tuck would know anything about that? She must have sampled his wares dontcha think?

by Anonymous

reply 261

09/16/2013

I must not have been watching when L. Stabb was on OLTL. How soon before Megan died was he on?

by Anonymous

reply 262

09/16/2013

I think I would agree with R256's top four based on the best of each of those shows. Nothing on daytime has ever compared to Harding Lemay's AW. I think Edge of Night was consistently better throughout its run, but GL's great years were were more sublime than EON's. Of course, if you'd factor in the Peapack years, GL would tumble down the list.

The only other shows on the list that I've seen are Search for Tomorrow and Texas. I only saw NBC's version of Search, which I understand was much inferior to its CBS incarnation. While I love Beverlee McKinsey, Texas was pretty darn bad until the last six months or so, until Pam Long took over as headwriter.

by Anonymous

reply 263

09/16/2013

Anyone care to assemble a list of actors who appeared on at least 4 P&G shows?

The first that come to mind are Ann Flood (Edge, From These Roots, AW, SFT) and Maeve McGuire (Edge, SFT, AW, ATWT, GL). Flood is one of my all-time faves...so cool and classy. I'm sure there were several others.

by Anonymous

reply 264

09/16/2013

I have to say one of the greatest twists I ever saw on a soap was on EDGE when Nancy was being held prisoner at the plastic surgery clinic.

The surgeon was re-doing faces of criminals to give them new identities. Nancy tried to uncover it and was kidnapped. Doris Belak played his bitchy wife Beth to evil perfection.

Draper and April got sucked in too and they were about to be KILLED by Beth, the reluctant doctor and their henchman Sharkey (played by Christ Goutman!) Also, one of the "criminals," his face in bandages, was helping, too.

Then, all of a sudden the bandaged bad guy helps overpower the baddies and our heroes are saved.

I was like WTF?

The bandages come off and it's Mike Karr!

Today, that would get out on either a magazine cover -- Mike standing with the bandages in his hands, heroine Nancy and evil Beth flanking him.

It's better when the surprises come out on air.

Spoilers certainly played a role in what's happened to soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 265

09/16/2013

the best soaps for me were when writing, acting and production all came together and surpassed the sum of their parts.

Marland's GH was brilliant; you felt like Port Charles was a community. So much of what the show celebrated in its 50th stemmed from what he did (and Pat Falken Smith carried on with).

Marland's GL was brilliant and his ATWT was, too.

I enjoyed Pam Long's GL very much, too.

by Anonymous

reply 266

09/16/2013

Pam Long started with a bang on GL but then it quickly went downhill.

by Anonymous

reply 267

09/16/2013

Whatever happened to William Gray Espy, anyhow?

by Anonymous

reply 268

09/16/2013

I don't think Marland could work his magic in today's world if he was still alive. Budgets wouldn't allow all those characters appearing in the same episode, and executives wouldn't let his stories smolder for so long before igniting.

by Anonymous

reply 269

09/16/2013

Why were April and Draper written off the show and how did they exit?

by Anonymous

reply 270

09/16/2013

Pam Long worked wonders at GL, even if she did "Texas-ify" it. I thought her writing during her second stint in the late 80s through about 1990 was much more layered and complex. Re Marland, I've posted this before, but his typically soapy stories were elevated by the scenes with multiple actors. That device worked to great effect, but, yeah, in today's economy, he could never have pulled that off.

by Anonymous

reply 271

09/16/2013

[quote]Spoilers certainly played a role in what's happened to soaps.

Agreed. I know I started watching a lot less once I knew what was coming up. Imagine if we knew beforehand that it was actually Marlena's twin that was killed by the Salem Strangler on DAYS, or that Edward was faking his heart attack to test Tracy on GH, or that Karen would take the witness stand and reveal her life as a prostitute on OLTL. The impact would be considerably lessened.

by Anonymous

reply 272

09/16/2013

r262, he was on the show from 1990-1991 before Megan & Jake eventually got back together and married. I think he remained till late summer 1991.

by Anonymous

reply 273

09/16/2013

r251, do you mean Derek Colby played by squinty-eyed Harley Venton?

by Anonymous

reply 274

09/16/2013

R265, Mimi Torchin was the worst thing ever to happen to soap opera. She was working her poison in SOW long before the internet became spoiler heaven.

by Anonymous

reply 275

09/16/2013

Thanks, R273. I did not start watching OLTL until Michael Malone started writing it, which IIRC was shortly before or after D. Marland's death.

by Anonymous

reply 276

09/16/2013

I agree about Marland in today's world; I think Carlivati juggles a lot of characters.

Much of it comes down to if the actors will take pay cuts.

by Anonymous

reply 277

09/16/2013

I wonder how long Marland could have kept the horrible from happening. If they hadn't had to replace him, ATWT would have continued being the same great show it had been for years.

There might never have been any MADD or FMB or Susan Batten or even Peapack on GL if Douglas Marland were still alive.

by Anonymous

reply 278

09/16/2013

[quote] There might never have been any MADD or FMB or Susan Batten or even Peapack on GL if Douglas Marland were still alive.

Maybe, but once the increasing competition from multiple cable channels and the internet came to be, some executive would be pushing him to write stories that last only two weeks and he probably would've quit in a huff.

by Anonymous

reply 279

09/16/2013

I would have loved Doug to have gone to AW and rejuvenated the Matthews clan.

by Anonymous

reply 280

09/16/2013

Didn't Stabb get the GL gig right after he was written off OLTL?

by Anonymous

reply 282

09/16/2013

I love how "Search for Tomorrow" had a few nice, quiet theme songs over the years until the final year it went all synthesizer. That final theme has aged worse than any of the others.

Dig Jane Krakowski at the :21 and :38 mark.

by Anonymous

reply 283

09/16/2013

Of all the P&G shows, I could see "Edge" being adapated as a prime time show. It won't happen but it would probably be the only one that could be tinkered with enough.

by Anonymous

reply 284

09/16/2013

I loved the McCleary brothers!

by Anonymous

reply 285

09/16/2013

That final "Search" theme was a single and the video featured the McCleary brothers.

by Anonymous

reply 286

09/16/2013

Eileen Fulton defending daytime on some talk show. GO GIRL!

by Anonymous

reply 287

09/16/2013

Britney looks like Sharon Tate on that new record cover. It's actually scary how much so.

by Anonymous

reply 288

09/16/2013

Sorry, wrong thread.

by Anonymous

reply 289

09/16/2013

While there were many Hart Jessups, the original one was Jeff Phillips. He later played Matthew Cory on AW. Phillips played Hart as a wide-eyed innocent. Later incarnations would have Hart playing a schemer.

#3 Sean McDermott, 1993, subbing for Stabb until they could write the character off.

#4 Marshall Hillard, 1995, was let go after about 6 months; while he tried hard in the role, he always looked like he was acting, never felt real.

#5 Frank Grillo, 1996-1999

by Anonymous

reply 290

09/16/2013

Someone upthread mentioned Sharon Gabet on Another World. The character she played was Brittany Peterson, the deaf wife of Catlin Ewiing.

They brought Gabet on in mid 1985, shortly after Edge of Night was cancelled. She was the spoiler for the super-hot Sally Frame-Catlin romance, but the character never really worked. Later, they had her involved with some of the Love family happenings. I think she was involved with Peter Love

Gabet left when her contract was up at the end of 1986 and went to OLTL as Melinda Crammer.

by Anonymous

reply 291

09/16/2013

GL always had backstage flings but they were a very tight group- like family.

However, it went over like a lead balloon when Frank Grillo dumped his wife for Wendy Moniz. He dumped his wife 2 weeks (!!) after she'd delivered their second child and she had zero idea that anything had been going on.

Most of the cast was very outraged at Grillo/Moniz's blatently bad behavior. His wife would come to the studio crying and begging him to come home.

In all honesty I never thought Grillo/Moniz would last. I thought it would just be a very hot tempestuous fling but they surprised everyone.

by Anonymous

reply 292

09/16/2013

[quote]His wife would come to the studio crying and begging him to come home.

It sounds way more interesting than what was actually going on in front of the camera. This was around the time of the Reva clone, I guess.

by Anonymous

reply 293

09/16/2013

R292 TPTB got back at them by splitting them up as a couple, and throwing in Laura Wright as Grillo new leading lady.

They made Moniz be the odd person out, scheming and manipulating everything to get Hart back.

In the end Moniz shot Grillo and killed him off!

Leaving Laura Wright's character pregnant with Hart's baby.

by Anonymous

reply 294

09/16/2013

The bright spot on Guiding Light at that point was when Annie Dutton aligned herself with Dinah and Beth, the women scorned of Springfield and formed them into a power block.

by Anonymous

reply 295

09/16/2013

The best moments of the Cassie/Dinah rivalry.

by Anonymous

reply 296

09/16/2013

"I still have SIMPLY ANNIE! That fragrance is going to sell off the shelves and I'm going to be a millionaire!" "Who would buy a perfume named﻿ after a psychotic bigamist?"

by Anonymous

reply 297

09/16/2013

Rumor had it that Hunt Block coukd hear Wendy and Frank G fuck in their dressing room and would fap to the moans...

by Anonymous

reply 298

09/16/2013

Touching scene here with little Lizzie helping Annie dress for her wedding. Annie may have been a lunatic but Watros always knew how to play the poignant beats of the character:

by Anonymous

reply 299

09/16/2013

Douglas Marland also created an R-rated cable soap named "A New Day in Eden" that was apparently racy for its time and nowadays would just be a lot of sideboob. It had a deflowering in a barn, a shower rape.

Anybody ever see it? I believe Jane Elliott was on it and Susan Flannery may have directed?

by Anonymous

reply 300

09/16/2013

Patrick Mulcahey said it was awful r300.

by Anonymous

reply 301

09/16/2013

Watching that Cassie clip is so disheartening. Laura Wright's been playing the exact same character her entire soap opera career and there is no variation in how she delivers a performance. It is the same tone of voice, the same snarl. Unbelievable.

by Anonymous

reply 302

09/16/2013

R278 Peapack is happening to all the current soaps in some way in the form of budget cutting. That whole cinema verite' look that GL adopted was to cut down costs. The remaining soaps(especially the Sony ones and GH) look at the bottom line like never before.

R300 Some of the promos ended up on you tube.It's another footnote in the "anals(sic)" of soap operas like Rituals. I'm surprised that Susan Flannery didn't push an all female orgy on that show.

by Anonymous

reply 303

09/16/2013

"A New Day in Eden" only lasted those 13 weeks.

Then Marland co-created "Loving," which was one of the most traditional of the newer soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 304

09/16/2013

I like Laura Wright, probably because I consider her very smart. Unlike a other soap performers, she seems to understands her limitations and made a nice living for herself in daytime.

by Anonymous

reply 305

09/16/2013

[quote] I like Laura Wright, probably because I consider her very smart.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAA

by Anonymous

reply 306

09/16/2013

Jacob Young would've made a great Andy Dixon recast.

by Anonymous

reply 307

09/16/2013

[quote] Jacob Young would've made a great Andy Dixon recast.

Especially if Andy started giving his ass up to Simon or Mike Kasnoff.

Or if he'd have admitted to Holden that he lusted after him.....

Not that Jacob has ever lusted after a costar or anything.

by Anonymous

reply 308

09/16/2013

I loved how Marland would unravel a mystery. And back before online spoilers, he would quite often surprise me.

by Anonymous

reply 309

09/17/2013

R307 You did that on purpose.

by Anonymous

reply 310

09/17/2013

[quote] I loved how Marland would unravel a mystery.

YES!

There were so many stories where he would reveal something and I GASPED!

Beatrice being Duncan's daughter, not his sister.

Hank Eliot coming out to Iva.

And the Doug Cummings reveal as Kim's stalker.

by Anonymous

reply 311

09/17/2013

r311, we gasped AT ALL of the shows back then, because there were no spoilers. Our collective MARY gasping wasn't exclusive to Marland's stories.

by Anonymous

reply 312

09/17/2013

When Rachel opened the door on Friday and her face took on the look of shock...

...and then we find out it's Iris (about whom I knew nothing) on Monday...

...and then they masterfully recap who Iris is...

...and then sometime later we learn Iris is [wait for it] The Chief.

And that's interwoven with the AW version of "The Necklace"...

...and we learn more and more about Iris as her story and Josie's interplay, culminating in a week at the Snowflake Ball...

by Anonymous

reply 313

09/17/2013

It was so old-school cheesy the way the shows used to re-enact, in the prologue, the cliffhanger scene from the day before. Was watching some Dark Shadows eps on hulu, and it was hysterical the way they'd re-enact these scenes. Soaps were always so cheesy and intentionally funny, which made them such a delight to watch.

by Anonymous

reply 314

09/17/2013

Is there such a thing as "new-school cheesy," R314? Examples?

by Anonymous

reply 315

09/17/2013

It's a commonly accepted redundant term, r315. Kind of like sow-frau. I hope that frames it in a way making it easy for you to comprehend.

by Anonymous

reply 316

09/17/2013

I remember in the old days, one of the best Friday cliffhangers was just a telephone ringing. Sometimes it was the knock at the door, but the phone ringing was the best.

by Anonymous

reply 317

09/17/2013

I've read that the last "genuine" spoiler was James Stenbeck on ATWT pulling down his monk's hood to reveal he was still alive to his terrified wife Barbara.

by Anonymous

reply 318

09/17/2013

One very vivid cliffhanger for me was back around 76/77 on AW. Olive was married to John Randolph but was fucking architect Evan Webster. She convinced Evan to kill John. Evan and John struggled with the gun and then they both fell behind the sofa, out of camera view. We heard a shot fired, and we wouldn't find out til Monday which one was shot. It's total cliche now, but seemed so fresh and exciting back then.

by Anonymous

reply 319

09/17/2013

Olive was such a good villainess. Those were the days when her, Rachel and Iris used the word "undermine" in a sentence all the time.

by Anonymous

reply 320

09/17/2013

Late 70s, early 80s ABC soaps were coming on strong with more flash, glitz, skin and young people having a ball, barely clothed.

As a result the P&G shows looked like a dinosaur, compared to the fast paced action at ABC.

They never recovered from how strong the ABC soaps were against them.

by Anonymous

reply 321

09/17/2013

R321 Your ABC shows sure are "strong" today, aren't they?

I always thought the ABC soaps were for dumb people. Not as dumb as the people who watched the Bell soaps, but certainly dumber than a P&G fan.

by Anonymous

reply 322

09/17/2013

R322 they are still on the air, and on the internet.

Can't say the same for the P&G soaps.

Where are they anyways?

by Anonymous

reply 323

09/17/2013

And PG's response was updating all of the show openings, all the shows got new theme songs and an influx of new younger characters. ATWT had Tom and Margo on adventures against Mr. Big, Another World SORASed Jamie and Dennis and brought on a young Rachel in Blaine. Edge of Night brought on Nicole's little sister and Kelly and Gavin. GL had Nola and Kelly and Morgan. I don't remember what Search did. PG always made stupid mistakes like this.

by Anonymous

reply 324

09/17/2013

R324 don't forget the Disco set they added on ATWT in response to AMC Disco that Erica owned!

by Anonymous

reply 325

09/17/2013

[quote] I don't remember what Search did.

They had Travis and Liza as P&G answer to Luke & Laura. They even permed Travis hair to look like Luke!

Then on P&G Texas they had Lurlene exclaim 'You mean like Luke & Laura!'

Once ABC started dominating the afternoons (Love in the afternoon) P&G could never recover.

by Anonymous

reply 326

09/17/2013

That's right, they all got discos. Mitch Blake had a disco, they had the Unicorn on Edge of Night, did GL and Search get a discos?

by Anonymous

reply 327

09/17/2013

[quote] did GL and Search get a discos?

The opening of Guiding Light was set in a disco!

by Anonymous

reply 328

09/17/2013

Actually, the ABC shows appealed to a more youthful, sophisticated urban audience, while the P&G shows' audience was more midwestern, uneducated and frauish. Fact.

by Anonymous

reply 329

09/17/2013

The "updates" in the 80s killed some of the smaller soaps, but AW, ATWT and GL survived and in some cases, flourished. Marland and Pam Long era GL and Marland's ATWT were as good as many other eras.

Lots of outside reasons (women not at home, the OJ trial) hurt soaps but P&G chased all their loyal viewers away by making their shows a copy of the dark, Guza-led GH.

Mobsters in Springfield, and making Dusty Donovan, a cheap Sonny ripoff...at the cost of chasing away vets like Ed and Holly on GL, Johnny D on ATWT - you know, anyone we actually GAVE two shits about.

by Anonymous

reply 330

09/17/2013

I agree--I think ATWT's James Stenbeck revealing himself to Barbara was the last time I was generally shocked at a soap. Not long after that spoilers were everywhere, and it got even worse when the internet soap sites popped up.

by Anonymous

reply 331

09/17/2013

TV Guide did an early spoiler by reporting on John and Lucinda's marriage the week before it aired.

by Anonymous

reply 332

09/17/2013

I totally agree with R330. Younger and more flash does not necessary make a better story.

by Anonymous

reply 333

09/17/2013

[quote] but AW, ATWT and GL survived

Not AW. While ATWT and GL had some golden periods in the 80s & 90s, AW could never get its act together.

by Anonymous

reply 334

09/17/2013

The problem with the P&G soaps is that they were in a lose-lose situation. The shows seemed hopelessly anachronistic. If they did nothing to modernize the shows, they'd have no chance of getting the younger demo. But if they, did modernize them, they ran the danger of looking totally desperate. ATWT and GL were best able to bridge this gap. SFT probably suffered the most.

by Anonymous

reply 335

09/17/2013

[quote] Younger and more flash does not necessary make a better story.

For four straight years (1980 to 1984) General Hospital, All My Children and One Life To Live finished 1-2-3.

No other soap could touch them.

by Anonymous

reply 336

09/17/2013

[quote] Not AW. While ATWT and GL had some golden periods in the 80s & 90s, AW could never get its act together.

It did well in the 80s, or at least well enough.

What killed AW in the 90s was what eventually killed the other shows - instability.

AW had something like 8 EPs and 10 HW's in a decade.

You'd get used to characters and a plot and WHAM! Presto change-o, a new group, new focus.

AW was painful to watch.

ATWT and GL both had the same writers/producers for the last few years, but they'd had too many changes, especially GL, in the years before that and lost a lot of the audience with every change.

by Anonymous

reply 337

09/17/2013

NBC wanted AW to be like Days of our Lives (which it followed in many markets)

It was like an ABC soap following a P&G soap.

It just wouldn't work.

by Anonymous

reply 338

09/17/2013

AW never really got its act together after 1980. There were some quality and ratings spikes here and there, most notably mid-80s and then again late-80s, but nothing sustained. There were just too many cooks stirring the pot to establish any clear vision. It's a tribute to the always stellar casting that the remaining viewers were as dedicated as they were.

by Anonymous

reply 339

09/17/2013

Watching that GL opening from the early 80s...wow! I had forgotten about some of those people. My mom and brother watched GL and I started getting hooked on it when I was about 10 or so (too young!)and I loved Nola, Kelly, Vanessa, Holly, Phillip, Beth, Rick, Mindy, Hillary, etc...

I started losing interest when Reva came on and ate the show.

by Anonymous

reply 340

09/17/2013

You must mean General Hospital, R323, the only one left of the ABC soaps. It was always too boring to watch, especially since it was on opposite Guiding Light (when GL was good).

The other three are dead, dead, dead.

by Anonymous

reply 341

09/17/2013

[quote] I started losing interest when Reva came on and ate the show.

To be fair, I don't think Reva ate the show THAT much, except for when she was with Kyle (basically, it was the only story that was working then).

But Pam Long wasn't good at balancing characters, and she overused Josh/Reva and Phillip....to the point where Zimmer, Grant A, Michael O'Leary all left in 1991 because they were just exhausted. They'd done 5 shows a week for 4 years or so.

That was one of the best things about Curlee/Demorest/Reilly when they succeeded Long - all of a sudden, every character got some airtime, and new characters attached to old ones - Julie, Hart, Kat - were introduced.

by Anonymous

reply 342

09/17/2013

[quote]But Pam Long wasn't good at balancing characters, and she overused Josh/Reva and Phillip....to the point where Zimmer, Grant A, Michael O'Leary all left in 1991 because they were just exhausted. They'd done 5 shows a week for 4 years or so.

They were such good shows, though, R342. Such good shows. That was when I really liked GL.

by Anonymous

reply 343

09/17/2013

I agree, R343. I liked Long era GL but also liked the next few years as well or better.

But Josh/Reva/Sonni/Will was some stuck-to-the-TV-screen story. And I loved Harley, loved Blake, loved Holly from the second she appeared (without knowing anything about her and Roger at that time).

Tomorrow, by the way? 4 years since the last episode of GL.

by Anonymous

reply 344

09/17/2013

R344 I just missed the Sonni/Solita years. I found out later (HOMICIDE) I love Michelle Forbes.

If you like her too, check out THE KILLING, an excellent cable series in which she is the very best performer. Seasons 1 and 2 are available on netflix.

I also liked hot, hipsterish detective Joel Kinnaman.

by Anonymous

reply 345

09/17/2013

The great thing about Josh/Reva/Sonni/Solita is that at some point, the writers' strike happened and you really didn't know what the FUCK was going on.

And it was STILL good.

Mostly because of Newman, Forbes and yes, Zimmer. The Sonni-and-Reva on the bridge scene was awesome.

by Anonymous

reply 346

09/17/2013

And I loved how you knew it was Solita if she was smoking and listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Sonni was in sweater sets, having chats with Alexandra.

by Anonymous

reply 347

09/17/2013

Roger Octopus' Official Soap Opera thread at ZetaLounge: The Place For People Too Cool for DataLounge!

by Anonymous

reply 348

09/17/2013

That is one thing that I've always disliked about soaps is the copying. Soaps have done it forever, if something is working on one show network execs just want soap writers to copy what's working on other shows without understanding why it's working.

For instance in the 70s all the soaps copied YR. Then in the 80s they all copied GH. Then in the 90s they all copied Days. No one ever took that time to figure out why YR, GH, and Days worked in those decades. They just blindly copied.

by Anonymous

reply 349

09/17/2013

R348 The best post in the Roger Octopus thread is this one, in which Sam Ford of Fast Company writes about a book by Lynn Liccardo, which talks about the demise of the soap opera. She talks about ATWT, and it is called "As the World Stopped Turning." It's kindle-only.

by Anonymous

reply 350

09/17/2013

As the World Stopped Turning

by Anonymous

reply 351

09/17/2013

I miss storylines like Sonni/Solita, Doug Cummings or Who shot Jake.

Those storylines were so well crafted it was like reading a great mystery novel.

Now a days viewers want SLs to wrap up quickly and move on to the next thing.

They have no idea how excellent soaps really were.

by Anonymous

reply 352

09/17/2013

R349 Good points. I think Pat Falken Smith going over to Days and doing the DiMeras and Bradys successfully imported that GH formula to a certain degree. Remember when AW was becoming another version of Days in the 80s? They even had Thomas Ian Griffith sport had a Peter Reckell like beard on!Also Mary Page Keller had a decidedly Hope Brady styled hairdo. In terms of GH and Days in general, the Bond villains, vampires, and demonic possessions were hard to emulate especially by the P & G who were far more reality bound. The Reva clone plot was mild compared to half of the Dark Shadowy/sci-fi stuff done st GH or Days.

R341 No. Nice try but you're wrong. I loved the P & G soaps but they are dead and gone. GH is still on ABC and OLTL and AMC are still made for the internet. BTW ABC has talked about syndicating AMC and OLTL to ABC stations in case Katie is bounced.

by Anonymous

reply 353

09/17/2013

I felt so bad for the actors on GL during the final low budget years. It looked like amateur hour at the local public access cable station.

by Anonymous

reply 354

09/18/2013

[quote] The other three are dead, dead, dead.

So are all the P&G soaps.

by Anonymous

reply 355

09/18/2013

R355 gets today's Most Perceptive of the Obvious award.

by Anonymous

reply 356

09/18/2013

I watched AW in the mid-80s when the ratings were terrible and Margaret DePriest was writing. There were far too many characters on the fringe so they created the Sin Stalker and killed a lot of them off.

Except "Special Guest Star" Crystal Gayle who survived.

by Anonymous

reply 357

09/18/2013

I started watching AW at the beginning of the writers strike in 1988. It was the most compelling thing I'd ever seen on TV. I found out that Mr. Lemay may or may not have been writing it at that time.

by Anonymous

reply 358

09/18/2013

Lemay at least put the outlines together for it, if he didn't write the breakdowns.

by Anonymous

reply 359

09/18/2013

Ada's dish towel and Reva's red dress should be in the Smithsonian. Any other iconic P&G stuff you'd put in there?

by Anonymous

reply 360

09/18/2013

Don Hastings' rug. It should have received a Special Emmy for Best Supporting Hairpiece.

by Anonymous

reply 361

09/18/2013

Great suggestion, R360

the Red Swan AW

the necklace of Rachel's that Josie lost AW

the Hubbard Squash ATWT

the engagement ring Harley dropped in the disposal GL

the P&G products Dylan proudly displayed in his first apartment GL

The window in the mental institution where Beth and Phillip wrote hearts on the frozen window GL

by Anonymous

reply 362

09/18/2013

James Stenbeck's return was definitely a shocker for me. Loved it! And another surprise that wasn't spoiled for me was the return of Grant Aleksander as Phillip. I think it was Rick who took a call from Phillip during a Friday episode at the end and all of a sudden you could hear Grant's voice on the other end. Very exciting, because sorry, John Bolger was a REALLY puzzling recast.

by Anonymous

reply 363

09/18/2013

John Bolger is a very good actor.

He was just wrong for Phillip.

But in fairness to Bolger, Grant had made such an impression as Phillip, that no one else stood a chance in the role.

by Anonymous

reply 364

09/18/2013

I totally agree, R364. Grant owned the role of Phillip.

by Anonymous

reply 365

09/18/2013

Ada's dish towel is probably excrement by now.

by Anonymous

reply 366

09/18/2013

Agreed R364.

I remembered a soap blogger writing the same thing a while back, and some good points, too - including the idea that Bolger and Mary Kay Adams had their own quirky chemistry.

by Anonymous

reply 367

09/18/2013

John Bolger was hot in "Parting Glances."

by Anonymous

reply 368

09/18/2013

Why no love for Sherry Stringfield?

by Anonymous

reply 369

09/18/2013

Because she's not a great actress R369. She was OK as a bitch but she wasn't all that deep in other departments.

by Anonymous

reply 370

09/18/2013

.

by Anonymous

reply 371

09/18/2013

R370 Betty Rea said she was one of the best actresses she ever cast.

She was cast on GL after Betty saw her in a showcase, and went from graduating from SUNY straight to GL.

From GF she went straight to NYPD Blue right to E.R.

by Anonymous

reply 372

09/18/2013

[quote] I think it was Rick who took a call from Phillip during a Friday episode at the end and all of a sudden you could hear Grant's voice on the other end.

I remember that, and we heard him on the phone to Alex too, and then at the end of the Friday tag I think we saw him.

by Anonymous

reply 373

09/18/2013

I liked Sherry a lot. She went onto greater fame on ER or one of those prime time drama shows.

by Anonymous

reply 374

09/18/2013

Any y'all remember me?

by Anonymous

reply 375

09/18/2013

Yeah, you were the REALLY annoying Reardon.

by Anonymous

reply 376

09/18/2013

Anyone remember me?

by Anonymous

reply 377

09/18/2013

I remember how a friend of mine loved how Sherry made the jump from the soap world to prime time. He was excited when Sherry ended up on NYPD. However she hasn't become a film star, which I would like because Meg Ryan became one. BTW Meg Ryan is a shitty actress. She makes Sherry look like Meryl Streep in comparison.

by Anonymous

reply 378

09/18/2013

Mary Kay Adams was so good as India von Halkein.

by Anonymous

reply 379

09/18/2013

Now you're talking R379!

by Anonymous

reply 380

09/18/2013

Mary Kay Adams ruled. Would have loved to have seen her in scenes opposite my other fave from that era, AMC's Kate Collins.

by Anonymous

reply 381

09/19/2013

R381, they actually did work together!

Collins was Liz Atherton, Phillips' floozy secretary he was messing around with after his marriage to India.

India showed up to Phillip's office after he left town (when Grant left, while they were casting John Bolger), and she was shocked to run into Liz because India thought Phillip had taken Liz away with him.

Liz explained to India that Phillip went away alone. It was the beginnings of setting the stage for the Phillip/India alliance that later formed when Bolger took over.

by Anonymous

reply 382

09/19/2013

Mary Kay Adams was just freakin' brilliant.

The role was originally India Raines, Beth's cousin, but after seeing how regal MK could play the part, the writers changed it to Alex's European stepdaughter.

I laughed out loud at her zingers over Beth. Floyd has India at gunpoint and raves about Beth's goodness. "They don't make 'em like her anymore," Floyd said.

India, who was Floyd's prisoner, said: "Thank God."

I honestly thought Phillip was going to kill India as she was forcing him into marriage.

This holiday scene from 1984 was brilliant: we see India's vulnerability, Phillip's sarcastic strength and the beginnings of Phillip and India forming a partnership.

by Anonymous

reply 383

09/19/2013

There was very briefly a terrible Mindy. Ann something or other. Good lord!

by Anonymous

reply 384

09/19/2013

Mary Kay Adams actually showed up for a hot minute on AMC in the early 2000s when Passanante was writing. She played a throw-away role of the manager of the Lacy's department store during some stupid shoplifting story I think. It's not listed in the imdb profile, but it was her. I remember being shocked to see her in such a one-off forgettable role.

by Anonymous

reply 385

09/19/2013

Going to that You Tube link I saw some GL from summer of 1984. The show was on fire then and displaced GH from the Number 1 spot for a few weeks. Then in the fall everything went to hell, the recast Ed, obscured the Bauers, the Reardons and everything became Reva and that stupid Infinity Plot line. I wonder what when wrong at that time.

Also, there is a hilarious scene homoerotic scne with Phillip and Rick with shirtless Phillip in shorty shorts, standing while Rick is sitting, so his head is right in Phillip's crotch. Phillip proceeds to work out while boasting of his one night stand with some girl he picked up (India) and Rick sniffing the clothes she left behind. Weird and I wonder how MOL and GA could get through it with a straight face.

by Anonymous

reply 386

09/19/2013

Richard Van Vleet was terrific on AMC and had that leading-man look that Peter Simon lacked, but he just didn't work as Ed Bauer. He had no chemistry with Ellen Dolan, and the writing at this time, as r386 mentioned, was falling apart.

by Anonymous

reply 387

09/19/2013

Van Vleet was okay, I guess. He just wasn't Peter Simon.

by Anonymous

reply 388

09/19/2013

Is Mary K. Adams a lesbian? I've always had a feeling she might be one.

by Anonymous

reply 389

09/19/2013

Wow, I had no idea Maureen Garrett posts on DL. Welcome, Ms. Garrett.

by Anonymous

reply 390

09/19/2013

Yes, the show started falling apart in early 1985.

Three Reardon siblings all left the show within a few months of each other.

Grant Alecsander left and was replaced by John Bolger. John's a good actor, but Grant was irreplacable.

Richard Vav Vleet, as r387 said, was great on AMC as Chuck, but just wasn't Ed Bauer.

They also shoehorned Kyle Sampson onto the canvas when the character wasn't needed or very well thought out. Larkin Malloy was fantastic on Edge, but just didn't fit on GL.

They also brought in Frances Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor's son Michael Wilding to play record producers in a storyline that never gelled.

Soon after that, the bizarre Infinity hypnosis storyline started and really took the show off the deep end.

The show that had been can't miss TV since Pam Long started writing it in May 1983 was easily missable by May 1985.

by Anonymous

reply 391

09/19/2013

R391, who was writing GL in the summer of 1989? It was excellent then, and had been so for some months (I don't remember exactly when I started watching, but I don't think I ever saw Chris B. as Alan Spaulding).

by Anonymous

reply 392

09/19/2013

Aleksander was the definitive Phillip, but I actually think Bolger, who's the better actor, worked for the darker, more adult storylines they were writing for Phillip in the mid-80s.

by Anonymous

reply 393

09/19/2013

r392 Pam Long was back at the helm in 1989.

She left in late 1985. They had a revolving door of writers for the next two years. She came back in late 1987.

As has been mentioned upthread, when she returned, you could tell immediately a new writer was in charge. Scenes were crisper, dialogue fresher. The difference in the writing was amazing.

by Anonymous

reply 394

09/19/2013

I think the most notorious clunker during Long's absence was the Paul Valere whodunnit focusing on Chelsea Reardon. No one cared about any of the characters involved and was a lesson in how exactly NOT to write a murder mystery. Also, someone got the "wise" idea to bring on Victor Garber as a love interest for Kim Zimmer's Reva. Yeah, sure, ok. There were some touching stories, like India and Dory, but besides that, not much else.

by Anonymous

reply 395

09/19/2013

In the 80s and 90s, if Maeve K. and her sister in law M ate together in a restaurant, I can assure you that Maeve would have gotten noticed more and gotten more autograph requests.

by Anonymous

reply 396

09/19/2013

[quote]I think the most notorious clunker during Long's absence was the Paul Valere whodunnit focusing on Chelsea Reardon. No one cared about any of the characters involved and was a lesson in how exactly NOT to write a murder mystery. Also, someone got the "wise" idea to bring on Victor Garber as a love interest for Kim Zimmer's Reva

Well you remembered all this so it must have had some kind of impact!

by Anonymous

reply 397

09/19/2013

[quote] Well you remembered all this so it must have had some kind of impact!

It was SO BAD!

by Anonymous

reply 398

09/19/2013

I think that the slide is 1985 was so remarkable as everything was so great before it! I read that the network said to go "bigger," and to ignore the Bauers and the Reardons. The thing was, when all the families were going strong the show hit number 1 and then fell off in the fall back to No. 7.

The Bauers were decimated as they recast Ed, Mike left, they killed off Hillary and Charita Bauer's illness progress and she died in the winter, (which wasnt addressed for a YEAR.) This all happened within a few weeks to a month!

Then we got Reva jumping out of planes with Kyle and landing on anAmish farm. And God I HATED Kyle FREAKIN' Sampson!!!

by Anonymous

reply 399

09/19/2013

r399 I agree completely.

Show just went on steroids and forgot what was making it great. I understand CBS was putting a lot of pressure on Pam Long about amping things up and moving the Bauers aside. That contributed a lot to her departure.

The show that was must-see TV in for 18 months 1983-1984 became why-bother TV by end of 1986.

by Anonymous

reply 400

09/19/2013

Krista Tesreau was a great teen Mindy. She had the best chemistry with The 4 Mouseketeers and with Jordan Clarke

What was the actress' name who played the sexy vampy Mindy ? The one Roger was fucking while married to Alex ?

I remeber being so impressed by her. She held her own against Bev and Zaz. I was surprised she never made it on another soap or in primetime.

She was beautiful and sexy and could act.

by Anonymous

reply 401

09/19/2013

Kimberly Simms was Mindy #2. She was great. She had a completely different take on Mindy than Krista, but the writers did a nice job of transforming Mindy into a sex kitten. She also had great chemistry with Jordan Clarke, who played her father, Billy.

The subsequent Mindys -- Ann Hamilton and Barbara Crampton -- were both very forgettable.

As I recall, Vince Irrizary had real-life relationships with all three of the those Mindys while playing opposite them on screen as Nick.

by Anonymous

reply 402

09/19/2013

R401. You are thinking of Kimberley Simms, the only Mindy Lewis I ever knew. I was surprised she never ended up anywhere else, the way Kristina Tesreau did, playing Tina on OLTL.

I remember KT's Tina because she fed all the kids ice cream after Megan died, which seemed like something Bitch Tina would never do (I hated Andrea Evans, in case you can't tell). When my friends were dying in the late '80s and early '90s, the survivors at each juncture would get together and eat Haagen-Dazs. It remained a tradition until there were only three of us left.

Though I liked Kimberley Simms just fine, after seeing Kristina Tesreau on OLTL, I imagined at times that I'd've liked her on GL, too.

Catherine Hickland was campaigning to be Mindy #3. Even her good friend Vince Irizarry tried to go to bat for her, but JFP felt she was all wrong for the part.

She cast Barbara Crampton instead (after the Ann Hamilton debacle)

by Anonymous

reply 405

09/19/2013

[quote]As I recall, Vince Irrizary had real-life relationships with all three of the those Mindys while playing opposite them on screen as Nick.

The single least-appealing actor in all of daytime, he was ugly and he slurred his words. He was a reason I gave up on GL.

by Anonymous

reply 406

09/19/2013

What went down with Judi Evans.

She said the cast was really mean to her. And she didn't get along with Vince Irizarry at all.

I know she was going out with one of the directors, but soap people dating each other is quite common.

by Anonymous

reply 407

09/19/2013

R407 She may have been too liberal for him. Years ago, I read he was a major supporter of the antiabortion movement, maybe marching in an anti-Roe v. Wade demonstration in DC.

by Anonymous

reply 408

09/19/2013

Judi Evans was only 18 when she was cast on GL as Beth. She was from California and had never even seen snow until moving to NYC for the part.

For a while, she was dating John Whitsell, who was a GL director at the time. He was rumored to be very controlling of her.

As far as the cast goes, Grant and Michael O'Leary liked to tease Judi and she didn't respond well. That lead to animosity between Judi and Grant, which is why she was more than happy with the Beth-Lujack pairing.

The other thing to consider is that Judi was carrying a heavy storyline with Bradley having molested his step-daughter. Maybe she just couldn't shrug off the teasing and the controlling boyfriend while carrying such an emotional storyline. I've heard in real life Judi is very laid back and boisterous, can cuss like a sailor.

I've never heard anything about Judi and Vince Irizarry not getting along.

But Vince was dating Kristi Ferrell (who played Reva's sister Roxie) at that point. Vince dated most of his leading ladies -- even had a daughter with Signy Coleman when they were on Santa Barbara together.

Judi is one of the few leading ladies he didn't date.

by Anonymous

reply 409

09/19/2013

KT was fine as Mindy. The other ones not so much. Then again Andrea Evans owned the Tina role. Karen Witter did a goofy imitation and KT to her credit did her own thing. Which was straight outta the Southland!

Vince Irizarry had all three Mindys? Really? I thought that KT was hot and Barbara Crampton was something else as well.He must have a great line of bullshit if he could pull that all off.

R406 OK VI was a pro-lifer.To each his own. I wonder what his beef with Judi really was?

by Anonymous

reply 410

09/19/2013

I think Vince and Judi got along well. It was Grant and Judi that had issues. Grant got along TONS better with Beth Chamberlin. Michael O'Leary seemed like a sweetie, though with a devilish streak. Can't imagine anyone not liking him.

by Anonymous

reply 411

09/19/2013

KRista Tesreau was such a cutie as Mindy, and was so sweet when she let her little girl side out with HB and Billy. Good memories. I did like Kimberly Simms, too, but it was a different portrayal.

On a side note, Kristi Ferrell was also a real cutie. Any gossip on her?

by Anonymous

reply 412

09/19/2013

I liked Beth Chamberlin, but thought Judi Evans had the most interesting "Beth" storylines during her tenure.

And yeah, R412. I had a gay boy crush on Kristi Ferrell. I could never figure out why they did not bring Roxie back rather than create a new sister for Reva. I had pretty much stopped watching the show so I cannot recall the actress or the character.

Mindy vs. Kimberly. it's a tough call as to who the 'better' Mindy was.

I think it's apples and oranges. Krista created the role and could do humor; Mindy could have been a bitch but was lovably spoiled.

Krista's Mindy showed up a Christmas with gifts for everyone and new hubby Kurt said to her: What happened to the Mindy who wasn't going to put things first?

Mindy: "Oh, I got rid of her."

Classic.

Simms had the ability to go up against Bev and Zas as a previous poster noted; she was brilliant, understated. She really made the role her own.

They brought Simms back for HB's funeral. I wouldn't have minded Krista at all for that, but I thought Simms did a great job.

by Anonymous

reply 415

09/20/2013

Judi also grew up in a circus family. Maybe Grant and Michael teased her a lot about that. And maybe also about her big juggs, which they often tried to hide underneath sweaters.

by Anonymous

reply 416

09/20/2013

Thanks so much for posting that video, R383. That was Grant Aleksander's last appearance before being replaced by John Bolger in scenes airing in January 1985. I remember taping this episode and watching those scenes several times over. They really represent how great soaps could have been. Adams was fabulous-sometimes she reminded me of a young Faye Dunaway. And Aleksander was perfect as the damaged golden boy. Great stuff. Thanks again.

by Anonymous

reply 417

09/20/2013

Judi Evans started off with some incredibly powerful scenes at GL. And she clearly had on-screen chemistry with Grant initially. But I found her to be really annoying and green as an actress once her introductory story was played out. She had a really annoying habit of mumbling her lines and I remember thinking later on "Why would Phillip or Lujack go crazy over this girl?" She overplayed the vulnerability and essentially came off as a dork. By the time the horrendous Infinity storyline aired, I was over Beth/Judi.

by Anonymous

reply 418

09/20/2013

I thought the Four Musketeers SL on GL was one of the best teen SLs ever.

Beth,Phillip,Mindy,and Rick were like cat nip back then.

by Anonymous

reply 419

09/20/2013

Before it became the Reva Show, it was the Beth Show. A lot of that had to do with Whitesell. Beth had to be right about everything, Beth was loved by many -she even drove poor Floyd Parker to murder! Judi Evans wore out her welcome. Believe me, Kim Zimmer played no. 2 to Evans and did not like it one bit. KZ threw a lot of dirt about Evans to her cast mates and the mag scribes.

I like her so much, Judi Evans. She was such a better Paulina than the first actress, and I'm enjoying her now as Adrienne on DOOL. I wish I'd seen her on GL, but I literally had no idea soap operas were any good until 1988.

by Anonymous

reply 424

09/20/2013

[quote]I wish I'd seen her on GL,

Here you go. This is when Beth was blind. They were in the process of breaking up Beth & Phillip (because GA was leaving the show) and TPTB wanted to put Beth and Lujack together.

by Anonymous

reply 425

09/20/2013

Thanks, R425. I'll save that for my weekend viewing.

by Anonymous

reply 426

09/20/2013

R424 Judi is lucky that she has a home at Days.Of course she had played Adrienne long before in the 80s but she returned to Days to play another character as well. There was supposedly an edict from the head of Sony Daytime to have their two soaps(Days of Our Lives and Young and The Restless) hire actors from the two soon to be cancelled P & G soaps(ATWT and GL). How well did that work out? Maura West went to Young and had a blah experience there and is doing a great job on GH. One could say that she is the best thing on there.Judi Evans had a history with Days going back decades and was already on so she didn't really count.

Paolo Seganti ended up on the online version of OLTL. Martha Byrne will be on an actual NBC primetime show.Stephen Schnetzer is doing voiceovers for commercials.Jerry Van Dorn became Clint on OLTL and continued on the online version.Melina Kanaredes ended up having primetime success on Providence and CSI;NY.

by Anonymous

reply 427

09/20/2013

Thanks r425.

That episode also featured a hairy chested Michael Woods!

I was so in love with him. He played Mark Wheeler on Texas and then moved over to GL as Jim Reardon. Had so many JO fantasies about him.

Never understood why Michael Woods didn't have a better career. He seemed poised for stardom in the late 80s. He had the lead in the Private Eye series opposite a young Josh Brolin, played the lead in the series Capital News, had a starring role in the mini-series War and Remembrance. But then his career just started fizzling.

I always found it amusing that Michael Woods and Harley Kozak played brother and sister on Texas, then played almost lovers on GL.

by Anonymous

reply 428

09/20/2013

[quote]Before it became the Reva Show, it was the Beth Show.

Agreed. For the first year Judi was on, 1983-1984, so much of the show revolved around Beth. The Phillip-Beth pairing and the whole Four Musketeers thing was magical. So much of the show's success back then was due to that storyline.

While Kim Zimmer started as Reva in November 1983, she didn't really start to break out until they did the Slut of Springfield fountain scene in late July 1984. Soon after that, it started moving away from the Beth Show and becoming the Reva show.

Next thing you know, Reva's parachuting out of a plane with Kyle Sampson and landing in a Mennonite barn in a rip off of Witness.

by Anonymous

reply 429

09/20/2013

Didn't the same actor, James Rebhorn, play both Beth's sexually abusives father on GL and Angel's sexually abusive father on ATWT?

by Anonymous

reply 430

09/20/2013

Yes, r430.

Michael Woods was also on ATWT as a love interest for Margo...which to me was Jim Reardon trying to bed his sister Maureen.

by Anonymous

reply 431

09/20/2013

Yes, R430. And now he's relegated to police and FBI roles mostly.

by Anonymous

reply 432

09/20/2013

Loved the second Mindy during the whole Rog and Alex storyline. She was a slut with a heart and for some reason never came off as a floozy or stupid.

The first Mindy, Krista could never have worked in that storyline..Rog would have looked like a nasty perv and Alex, instead of being the wife who took no shit, would have looked like the nasty witch they turned Alex into with Marj. However, the second Mindy could never have worked in a Rick pairing besides being friends. Krista you could see being with Rick..of course, I used to think Rick was cuter then Phillip and I loved, fun and funny Rick and Mindy better then angsty Phillip and Beth. I hated it when they brought in Roxie to be Rick's LUURRVE. Nice that they put Rick and Mindy together at the end but that needed to have happened a long time before that..(and what happened to poor MOL at the end, he became a fat slot with GA looking the same.)

by Anonymous

reply 433

09/20/2013

An idea what Michael Woods is up to now ?

He used to work consistently.

R432

Rebhorn may play cops alot but he has built a very strong career as a character actor.

by Anonymous

reply 434

09/20/2013

Yes, R434. My point is I'd like to see Jim Rebhorn more, in many different roles.

by Anonymous

reply 435

09/20/2013

I agree, R433, KT would have never been credible as Mindy during that Roger/Alex storyline. This is a prime example of a recast being a fundamental reason why a certain storyline worked.

by Anonymous

reply 436

09/20/2013

Jim Rebhorn came back to ATWT to play Reid Oliver's father.

Couldn't understand why he would come back, for just a day to play such meaningless role.

by Anonymous

reply 437

09/20/2013

I didn't remember that, R437. Maybe Reid was a son of another mother, whose last name he chose over "Lange"?

by Anonymous

reply 438

09/20/2013

Maybe he needed to make his AFTRA pension or medical insurance, R437. That's the most likely reason.

by Anonymous

reply 439

09/20/2013

R421, I heard Whitesell had some balls.

He was a p.a. or assistant something and one day they gave him a shot at directing.

The next day he doesn't show up for the p.a. gig and they call him, 'are you sick?' 'where are you?'

He said, 'Oh, I'm a director now. Call me when you need me to fill in for directing again.'

Sure, enough he started working more as a director and eventually became e.p. of SEARCH and AW.

People have to make those moves or else they'll never move up.

by Anonymous

reply 440

09/20/2013

Whitesell is now directing TV movies, episodic and features.

by Anonymous

reply 441

09/20/2013

I think there were three Whitesell brothers working then. Christopher was a producer, he'd worked on Texas.

by Anonymous

reply 442

09/20/2013

I remember John Whitesell was a fatty. Not sure how he landed Judi.

by Anonymous

reply 443

09/20/2013

Can we talk about Michelle Forbes some more. I loved the Sonni/Solita storyline.

by Anonymous

reply 444

09/20/2013

And now we have a Sean and Emily Whitesell, who work in nighttime TV, on American Dreams and Cold Case, House, Dirty Sexy Money and others.

by Anonymous

reply 445

09/20/2013

R444 You have got to see THE KILLING if you like Michelle Forbes. Season 1 is on DVD and Netflix, season 2 on Netflix.

by Anonymous

reply 446

09/20/2013

Thanks for the tip, R446. As a gay guy, I had my odd boy crush on her. I think I saw a little of both Sonni and Solita in me. I have Netflix and will check it out.

by Anonymous

reply 447

09/20/2013

I started watching too late to see her on GL, R447. I'll bet I'd've liked her.

by Anonymous

reply 448

09/20/2013

There are four Whitesell brothers in the business:

Chris -- gay; currently headwriting on Days with Gary Tomlin. Got his start on ATWT as a breakdown writer for Doug Marland in 1987. Also worked with Tomlin on Sunset Beach and One Life to Live in 2001-2003.

John -- straight, overweight (as someone said upthread). Got his start as a PA at P&G soaps, then moved up to directing. Guiding Light was his first show. Directed numerous TV shows; also feature film Calendar Girl starring Jason Priestley.

Patrick -- straight; works as a talent agent, played a large part orchestrating the merger between William Morris agency and Endeavor. Now serves a co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor.

Sean -- actor; appeared on first season of Oz, in movie Calendar Girl (directed by his brother John) and in Homicide Life on the Street series.

by Anonymous

reply 449

09/20/2013

I loved the whole Sonni/Solita story. I wished Solita would have stayed on - the Sonni/Roger story had promise but then Michelle Forbes left.

I also loved Forbes because she made Zimmer batshit crazy.

by Anonymous

reply 450

09/20/2013

"I think I saw a little of both Sonni and Solita in me."

Sorry, r447, but I have to give you an enormous MARY! for that.

by Anonymous

reply 451

09/20/2013

Actually R451 he gets an enormous SONNI! for that!

by Anonymous

reply 452

09/20/2013

Forbes and Zimmer didn't get along?

by Anonymous

reply 453

09/20/2013

Kim Zimmer never gets on with the romantic rivals they put in her storylines. Especially if they are exceptionally good actresses such as Michelle Forbes or Cynthia Watros.

I think the bigger question is who did Kimmer hate worse, Michelle Forbes or Cynthia Watros?

by Anonymous

reply 454

09/20/2013

I loved Cynthia Watros as Annie too! But I didn't have the crush on her.

I'm sure Zimmer's issues with Forbes and Watros had a great deal to do with their abilities to act circles around her.

by Anonymous

reply 455

09/20/2013

A friend of mine played Solita's agent who was British for some reason. I swear on my mother's grave he got to say this priceless gem:

"You were the finest English-speaking actress in Venezuela. Before all the men and the cigarettes, that is."

by Anonymous

reply 456

09/20/2013

Is there any woman that Zimmer DID get along with at GL, well, besides her bff Pam Long, who kissed her ass?

by Anonymous

reply 457

09/20/2013

R457 Long wasn't her BFF.

Kim did to her what she did to every writer - complained. Zimmer complained if she didn't have a story, if she had a story, if the story had people in it, if the sky was blue, etc. She would toe the company line at the beginning and be excited about stories, but she'd bitch about them a few months later, only to use it as an example of a good story down the line when she bitched about whatever present story she had.

She and Watros were friends and are friends now but had a falling out during GL's run - mostly burnout on both their parts, plus Zim's usual jealousy of anyone else getting any attention. (Of course they're friends now, Cynthia can't take her spotlight.)

But she NEVER got along with Forbes, and did an interview about how her portrayal of Solita scared the fuck out of her. Forbes, from what I've heard, was also a bit of a Method actress and wasn't particularly friendly to Zimmer backstage.

It's a shame Zimmer wasn't more grateful to Long for creating Reva and giving that character her best years, but she's generally ungrateful to writers.

by Anonymous

reply 458

09/20/2013

Did Kim and Crystal Chappell get along? They seem like two crazy, ego-driven broads.

by Anonymous

reply 459

09/20/2013

I loved the Sonni/Solita storyline. They had this wonderful actress playing Mrs. Ibarra. The whole story was quite convoluted and crazy, but Michelle Forbes made it work. Kim Zimmer hated when anyone pulled the spotlight from her, even when (as in this case), they made her work better.

by Anonymous

reply 460

09/21/2013

The best scene from Sonni/Solita with Reva dangling from a bridge in the jungle.

Both of them were great!

by Anonymous

reply 461

09/21/2013

James Rebhorn plays Claire Danes father on Homeland. Given his past roles, makes me wonder if he did something to her character to make her so nuts!

by Anonymous

reply 462

09/21/2013

Michelle Forbes also played the "big bad" on one of the early seasons of True Blood and was great. She was heartbreaking on The Killing.

by Anonymous

reply 463

09/21/2013

Which divas owned their PGs shows per decade:

ATWT:

60s - Eileen Fulton

70s - Eileen Fulton

80s - Meg Ryan

90s - Martha Byrne

2000s - Maura West

GL:

60s - Lynne Adams

70s - Lynne Adams / Maureen Garrett

80s - Lisa Brown / Kim Zimmer

90s - Kim Zimmer

2000s - Kim Zimmer

AW:

60s - Jacquie Courtney

70s - Jacquie Courtney/Vicky Wyndham

80s - Vicky Wyndham / Mary Page Keller / Anne Heche

90s - Jensen Buchanan

by Anonymous

reply 464

09/21/2013

I loved the Sonni/Solita story which was endless, complicated by a writer's strike and had more twists than anything. It was the first time I'd ever seen Michelle Forbes in anything and she was excellent.

Right around this time was when Fletcher and Alexandra crashed on the island where Roger Thorpe was hiding out. Did anybody expect to see Roger again after him being gone nearly a decade? The funny thing about that story is that they had Roger wearing a mask and then in one episode, suddenly it begins with Roger fishing and it was the first time we saw that it was truly Roger. It was a "day in the life" kind of episode and after that, Roger went back to the mask. Wonder why the writers gave it away so quickly.

by Anonymous

reply 465

09/21/2013

r464's list is inaccurate. That's all I'll say.

by Anonymous

reply 466

09/21/2013

R464 Check out Anne Heche's first scene on AW.

by Anonymous

reply 467

09/21/2013

R464 A-fucking-hem.

AHEM!

by Anonymous

reply 468

09/21/2013

When you look in the dictionary for the word "flawless" these scenes appear. (Link is part 1 - there are 4 overall)

THE most FABULOUS performance by McKinsey and a high point for GL. Ever.

by Anonymous

reply 469

09/21/2013

Alex reads Roger for filth, part 2:

by Anonymous

reply 470

09/21/2013

Alex still has her reading glasses on. Part 3

by Anonymous

reply 471

09/21/2013

And lastly, part 4.

So great how she goes from rage to anger to sadness to vulnerability.

by Anonymous

reply 472

09/21/2013

Two full threads and I haven't seen this posted yet:

by Anonymous

reply 473

09/21/2013

Thanks, R469 through R472.

This was one of the only times I enjoyed a "Spaulding, Spaulding, Who's Got the Spaulding?" storyline. It takes a lot of talent to make those corporation stories emotionally resonant, and this was one of the best. I couldn't wait to get home and watch GL those years. (Later on, the machinations would become oh, so boring. Thank you and fuck you, P&G.)

BTW, did you all know GL soap fans started the portmanteau craze on the internet? Without Bloss and Jeva, there would never have been Brangelina.

by Anonymous

reply 474

09/21/2013

R464

You forgot the greatest actress of all...

Beverlee McKinsey (GL and AW)

Turn in your gay card and fan card immediately

by Anonymous

reply 475

09/21/2013

Can someone give a Cliff Notes version of the Sonni/Solita storyline ?

What HW wrote it ?

by Anonymous

reply 476

09/21/2013

R464 Remember that La Bev got star billing on Texas BEFORE the show started. That was long before soap star were getting credit before the show.

by Anonymous

reply 477

09/21/2013

[quote]Remember that La Bev got star billing on Texas BEFORE the show started. That was long before soap star were getting credit before the show.

Bitch, please. I will cut yo trick ass.

by Anonymous

reply 478

09/21/2013

Why did Bev take the GL job instead of jumping at the many offers to return to AW, which really could've used her in 83/84? The EP/HW team that introduced Alex was the same one that chased Bev off Texas.

by Anonymous

reply 479

09/21/2013

Don't forget about us... We got star billing and we both had massive cocks.

by Anonymous

reply 480

09/21/2013

[quote] The EP/HW team that introduced Alex was the same one that chased Bev off Texas.

Nope The EP/HW team that revitalized Texas came AFTER Bev left Texas.

Bev was basically tired of the character and want to do something new.

by Anonymous

reply 481

09/21/2013

Does my "and..." tag count as star billing?

by Anonymous

reply 482

09/21/2013

Of course it does Eileen you crazy old coot.

by Anonymous

reply 483

09/21/2013

R479, The producers of AW approached McKinsey to return to AW for the show's 20th Anniversary. She lived in Manhattan & didn't want to commute to Brooklyn (in addition to not wanting to reprise the same character/wanting change).

by Anonymous

reply 484

09/21/2013

What did people like Beverlee McKinsey make (in terms of salary) back in the '70's? What was Kim Zimmer paid while on GL?

by Anonymous

reply 485

09/21/2013

[quote] Can someone give a Cliff Notes version of the Sonni/Solita storyline ? What HW wrote it ?

It was Pam Long.

The original story was that when Josh was out of Springfield, between 1984 and 1986, he met and married Sonni, and had assumed she'd died in an accident.

But Sonni turned up in Springfield very much alive, and when Josh believed that Marah was Kyle's daughter, he and Sonni made a go of their marriage.

It turned out Sonni had a connection to Will Jeffries, who had already been in Springfield for a while at that time.

And here's where the plot gets murky, thanks to the writer's strike. They were scheming together to kill or ruin Josh. Then it was revealed that Sonni wasn't Sonni but her sister Solita. Sonni had died after all.

She and Will schemed - he was involved with Mindy Lewis and had married Mindy - and at some point, in the back and forth, it was revealed that Sonni was, indeed, Sonni. Sonni did have a twin named Solita who had died in their younger years, and was experiencing a multiple personality.

At some point, after nearly making the world happy by almost pushing Reva Shayne off of a jangling rope bridge, this all came to light. Sonni and Josh divorced, Will was killed somehow (I am forgetting when and how). Jarsh and Reva got back together (only to face Reva's own secret: that she'd been knocked up by Billy as a teen and gave that baby up for adoption). Sonni had a tentative connection to the newly returned Roger Thorpe but left town soon after.

by Anonymous

reply 486

09/21/2013

Calista Flockhart played the babysitter who kidnaps Marah and then tries to pin the blame on Sonni

by Anonymous

reply 487

09/21/2013

[quote] What did people like Beverlee McKinsey make (in terms of salary) back in the '70's? What was Kim Zimmer paid while on GL?

Actual numbers are hard to come by - there have been vociferous fights even recently on DL about salaries. Some think stars like DAYS' Alison Sweeney are making a million (which just isn't happening, sorry).

Zimmer might have been in the million dollar club, or close to it. She was the only P&G star that could have asked for that in the last 25 years of their shows.

More than likely, she was probably making between 500-750K a year, and then that was cut a significant amount after 2004. She probably took a 20-30% pay cut before GL was cancelled.

Beverlee was, I would say with a fair amount of certainty, making a mil at the end of AW and during her year on Texas.

by Anonymous

reply 488

09/21/2013

Michelle Forbes was only 22-24 when she played Sonni/Solita.

by Anonymous

reply 489

09/21/2013

Forbes deserved an Emmy.

McKinsey and Forbes could have been an interesting show all on their own. Alan and Sonni had some fierce chemistry as well.

by Anonymous

reply 490

09/21/2013

The potential Roger-Sonni pairing had so much potential. Those two could have been explosive together.

As I recall, they had a handful of scenes of the two together, one even of Roger bedding Sonni. And then we never saw Sonni again. No good bye scenes or anything. Don't think there was even an on-screen explanation for her absence.

Obviously, Michelle Forbes didn't renew her contract, but I still wonder what might have been.

Of course, we wouldn't have gotten the Mindy-Roger pairing if Sonni had still been around.

by Anonymous

reply 491

09/21/2013

Did anyone ever remove the million dollars from the safe in the green apartment Roger lived in?

by Anonymous

reply 492

09/21/2013

well, r492, Mindy moved in after Roger . . .

Maybe she needed capital to start her fashion line.

by Anonymous

reply 493

09/21/2013

R491, you obviously missed her airport goodbye scene which ended with her taking a cigarette and putting it in her mouth, a sign that she may not have totally rid herself of Solita.

by Anonymous

reply 494

09/21/2013

r494 Thanks. Didn't see that episode.

Glad to know she had a goodbye scene. All I remember is how abruptly the Roger-Sonni pairing was aborted and Sonni disappeared.

by Anonymous

reply 495

09/21/2013

R491/R495, I forget who the scene was actually with. Josh? Roger? But I remember the cigarette and wondered if it was in the script or if it was suddenly added at the last minute. I have a feeling in Forbes' mind she was never coming back to the show.

by Anonymous

reply 496

09/21/2013

Were any of the dramas' gay actors involved [italic]with[/italic] each other?

by Anonymous

reply 497

09/21/2013

[quote] Glad to know she had a goodbye scene. All I remember is how abruptly the Roger-Sonni pairing was aborted and Sonni disappeare

I think Michelle Forbes gave them really short notice that she was leaving. I seem to remember they assumed she was renewing and then she gave them three weeks' notice. So they had to quickly write Sonni out.

It's a shame. Forbes is a fantastic actress. She reminds me a bit of Victoria Wyndham - beautiful but in a very unconventional way, and can be very much the heroine but also play very dark emotions.

by Anonymous

reply 498

09/21/2013

R497 I can't say I ever knew who the gay ones were. When I first got on AOL, I was IMing with a DC bartender who told me Matt Crane used to come into his bar (down by the Navy Yard) from time to time.

I guess Ben Hendrickson may have been gay, but I'm basing that more on his being single and suicidal than anything else. I have no knowledge.

My impressions were more wishful thinking than anything else.

by Anonymous

reply 499

09/21/2013

I wondered about Benjamin Hendricks myself, he played a gay character in a movie that he made during the year he took off ATWT. I was really sad when he died, he was a great actor, it was an awful loss. Poor man.

by Anonymous

reply 500

09/21/2013

I used to wish Grayson McCouch and Danny Markel were gay.

by Anonymous

reply 501

09/21/2013

And of course, for years I thought Scott DeFreitas was gay. Hard to be wronger (sic) than that.

by Anonymous

reply 502

09/21/2013

I'd been hearing rumors of Ben Hendrickson being gay since before the Internet.

I also thought the actor who played Hank Eliot may have been gay in real as well though the actor denied it. He never did anything else but play "Other pilot" in an episode of "Babylon 5."

by Anonymous

reply 503

09/21/2013

David Oliver, who played Perry Hutchins on AW, died of AIDS early on.

by Anonymous

reply 504

09/21/2013

c

by Anonymous

reply 505

09/21/2013

So did the handsome silver-haired Paul Stevens who played Iris' husband Brian Bancroft.

by Anonymous

reply 506

09/21/2013

[quote] I guess Ben Hendrickson may have been gay, but I'm basing that more on his being single and suicidal than anything else. I have no knowledge.

Same here. I think he may have been, but he was very private. It's so sad that he killed himself. He was, by all accounts, a well liked man.

by Anonymous

reply 507

09/21/2013

Reva and Billy had a kid ?

What was the name?

I can't believe I forgot that.

by Anonymous

reply 508

09/22/2013

Dylan Lewis

by Anonymous

reply 509

09/22/2013

Daniel Markel was hot. But he's a big ole fundie if I remember right.

Boo.

by Anonymous

reply 510

09/22/2013

Why the fuck did they kill off Hilary Bauer?

And no, I'm not a lawyer!

by Anonymous

reply 511

09/22/2013

Hlllary gave off a lesbian vibe.

by Anonymous

reply 512

09/22/2013

Hillary was probably considered a 'Doug Marland' character and the show was getting rid of his.

R509, great author joke.

by Anonymous

reply 513

09/22/2013

[quote]Hlllary gave off a lesbian vibe.

I'm thinking it was my hair-do.

by Anonymous

reply 514

09/22/2013

Hillary was a Bauer, and when Pam Long came on board CBS wanted all the Bauers gone.

P&G fought back, as did Long, but they struck a compromise and scaled the family back. They killed off Hillary, sent Mike out of town, and after Bert died, Ed and Rick were the only Bauers in town for years.

by Anonymous

reply 515

09/22/2013

Where did you hear that, R510?

by Anonymous

reply 516

09/22/2013

Danny Markel, who went to Julliard and wanted to be the next Kevin Kline (his words)

Could only find work on soaps as an actor, even after all that $$ training in school.

Now he is a financial planner in LA.

But then again everyone winds up having four or five different careers in their lifetime.

by Anonymous

reply 517

09/22/2013

I thought he got his acting degree at NYU, R517.

by Anonymous

reply 518

09/22/2013

Yeah it is probably NYU

Here is his linkedin page

by Anonymous

reply 519

09/22/2013

Thanks, R519. He's done very well for himself, hasn't he?

I wonder if he ever regrets giving up acting. When I saw him on AW, I was so sure he'd have a big career. He was so much better looking than most other actors, and he was rather compelling otherwise. I even liked his voice.

Naturally, I wishfully thought he HAD to be gay.

by Anonymous

reply 520

09/22/2013

Re: Danny Markel

After he got fired from WT he decided he needed a more stable career to support his family. I can respect that even though I missing seeing his beautiful eyes.

by Anonymous

reply 521

09/22/2013

Danny was on WT at the worst possible time. He was an improvement over the original David Allen Stenbeck, but ugh, no one besides Marland could write the Stenbeck stories. The lesser hacks turned James into Stefano, but that's a matter for a post of its own.

Eventually, I gave up on WT until Nuke.

And yes, those eyes.

by Anonymous

reply 522

09/22/2013

For those wondering if Benjamin Hendrickson was gay, judge for yourself from 2:30 on:

Benjamin Hendrickson was classmates with Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline at Julliard

by Anonymous

reply 525

09/22/2013

Ben H. was gay. It wasn't a secret.

by Anonymous

reply 526

09/22/2013

Sonni's last scene, saying goodbye to Josh and Marah. This is a classic Pam Long Kodak moment with the flashbacks.

No cigarette here - maybe there's a last scene with just Sonni after Josh and Marah are gone?

by Anonymous

reply 527

09/22/2013

R527, there definitely was. It's a private moment just before she boards the plane. I'll never forget that moment with the cigarette! It was a brilliant idea.

by Anonymous

reply 528

09/22/2013

R520,

Back in the 1990s, Daniel Markel stated in one of the publications that he may be on his way out of the acting profession. He said that he didn't want to reach milestones (in age) and be on the market looking for guest gigs on silly prime-time series like [then-on-CBS] [italic]Diagnosis Murder[/italic]. His departure from acting was expected. By him.

by Anonymous

reply 529

09/22/2013

I don't know about Benjamin Hendrickson, but Silas Crocker was pretty femme.

by Anonymous

reply 530

09/22/2013

Silas Crocker and Quinton McCord definitely did some man-slamming out there in Tanqueer on their archeological digs.

by Anonymous

reply 531

09/22/2013

What does the DL know about the guy who played Reva's brother, Rusty? He was gorgeous!

by Anonymous

reply 532

09/22/2013

Terrell Anthony, who played Rusty, is apparently straight. He was fucking Cady McClain for a while. He replaced Michael E. Knight as Tad for a bit back in 1990.

by Anonymous

reply 533

09/22/2013

How about Ricky Paull Goldin? He has been a topic of conversation down through the years?

by Anonymous

reply 534

09/22/2013

R528, R527 here. I do not remember that final scene with the cigarette. I distinctly remember watching the scene I posted in the airport with Josh and Marah saying goodbye to Sonni. I even remember the rather brilliant directing of showing Marah looking at Josh and Sonni holding hands for a second. The cigarette is a great twist though - I have to try to find it online somewhere. Michelle Forbes was fucking fabulous!

by Anonymous

reply 535

09/22/2013

Ricky Paul was fucking Yasmeen Bleeth for years. Definitely straight. No man is going to stand my that coked up tranny mess unless he truly craves her pussy.

by Anonymous

reply 536

09/22/2013

Do you think Mac and Iris ever did it?

by Anonymous

reply 537

09/22/2013

Oh nonsense, Rebecca at R531. Quint was as straight as an arrow. Why, many a night when Henry wasn't able to "perform", I would visit Quinton's room for some late night... satisfaction.

by Anonymous

reply 538

09/22/2013

R534

Ricky Paul isn't just straight he's disgustingly straight.

He and Paul Rauch used to go to Scores back in the day, get drunk and slobber all over the strippers.

He's calmed down now with age, marriage and kids.

by Anonymous

reply 539

09/22/2013

Hope you find it, R535. I definitely didn't imagine it!

by Anonymous

reply 540

09/22/2013

Just did a Google search using Solita cigarette GL final scene and up popped a MarlenadelaCroix.com 5 Holy S#%* Moments which begins with Sonni sittting on the plane, taking out a cigarette and...then the entry stops. I clicked on it several times but it kept sending me to some other website, I think something to do with nicotine!

by Anonymous

reply 541

09/22/2013

Ricky Paull comes across as anything but straight. Pings off the charts. As I read somewhere once, "his performance of heterosexuality is unconvincing."

by Anonymous

reply 542

09/22/2013

Terrell Anthony is a right-wing fundie who is also a priest!

He started his career being a model!

by Anonymous

reply 543

09/22/2013

Can someone explain the whole Carrie Piper/Tony & Annabelle story? Something about a haunted house that was ultimately connected to the Spauldings, I think. I remember being riveted by the characters and the individual scenes, but I had no idea what the hell that story was all about. Pam Long's plots almost always became too convoluted after a while.

by Anonymous

reply 544

09/22/2013

Quint and Mrs. Renfield did seem to have an odd relationship, R538. It was creepy - I thought the same thing at the time!

by Anonymous

reply 545

09/22/2013

R544, it led to Brandon Spaulding actually alive on a Caribbean island somewhere with his black wife and biracial daughter. Sorry, that's all I remember.

by Anonymous

reply 546

09/22/2013

Donna Hudson was on the Emmys. Apparently she and James Cromwell are together.

by Anonymous

reply 547

09/22/2013

Michael Hudson's was the best soap funeral ever. All that snow, and the NYC Gay Men's Chorus singing "No One Is Alone."

by Anonymous

reply 548

09/22/2013

The Sonni reveal is mentioned in the comments of this Marlena Delacroix post, written by a guest blogger.

by Anonymous

reply 549

09/22/2013

R547, her actual name is Anna Stuart and her backstage nickname was Anna Banana.

by Anonymous

reply 550

09/22/2013

Did you work backstage in Brooklyn, R550?

by Anonymous

reply 551

09/22/2013

Who?

by Anonymous

reply 552

09/22/2013

No, R551, but I know a few actors who worked the show.

by Anonymous

reply 553

09/22/2013

Thanks for posting the link, R549. Yes, if you scroll down quite a bit down the link to bob says' comment he describes Sonni sitting in a plane waiting to take off for SF, she puts a cigarette in her mouth, a stewardess admonishes her, she takes it out and smirks. That was really a great moment.

by Anonymous

reply 554

09/22/2013

Anna Stuart and James Cromwell have been together for some time. He took her to last year's Oscar's and the SAGs.

I always thought she was so beautiful.She still looks amazing as if time has stood still.

by Anonymous

reply 555

09/23/2013

I remember Anna as Gina Dante on GH in the late 70s. She looks the same, though she's always looked old.

by Anonymous

reply 556

09/23/2013

Anna Stuart is still close to Anne Heche

by Anonymous

reply 557

09/23/2013

Anna Banana was a guest at a party that a friend of mine threw back in the early 90s. She was quite uppity and snobby, wouldn't mingle. My friend got drunk and threw her out, yelling out the door "I don't need any Poor Man's Susan Lucci to stink up MY party!"

She does still look amazing. Gorgeous skin and teeth. She was in a very bad, abusive relationship for many years with a failed actor named Jesse. I'm glad to see she seems very happy with Cromwell. I wonder if they'll ever marry.

R558 It sounds as if Donna Love Hudson came to your friend's party instead of Anna S.

I recall an episode in which Courtney the Cop came to the Hudsons' apartment (at the Love Tower?) to search for something crime-related and Courtney picked up a Ming vase, and Donna shrieks at her, "That's a Ming vahse, Courtney, M-I-N-G, Ming."

And I'll never forget her eating (her first?) pizza -- her "ewww face" was priceless -- with Jake when they were sleeping together.

by Anonymous

reply 561

09/23/2013

R559

Why are you knocking Anna Stuart.

She's still gorgeous and she was excellent as Donna Love. I'd love to see her in more things.

by Anonymous

reply 562

09/23/2013

Was just kidding actually. I think she's terrific. There was SUCH wasted potential for her on AMC as Greenlee's mother Mary Smythe. She was so good, and had wonderful chemistry with Canary and Willey and was a great sparring partner for Lucci. They were hinting at an Adam/Brooke/Mary triangle, which would've been delicious, but Frons vetoed all of that and totally minimized the role til she just disappeared with no explanation.

by Anonymous

reply 563

09/23/2013

^^Yet another reason Frons sucks. Anna Stuart was great as Mary Smythe, and I loved seeing her and Lucci spar--but an Adam/Brooke/Mary triangle would have been great, but stupid Frons made it his mission to destroy AMC.

by Anonymous

reply 564

09/23/2013

During the baby switch thing, Adam and Mary shared a bunch of scenes, and McTavish was slowly maneuvering Brooke back into Adam's orbit. McTavish was definitely setting up a triangle there, but it was suddenly dropped. I'm not a huge McT fan, but she "got" AMC, but Frons had a different vision for the show. He helped kill that show.

by Anonymous

reply 565

09/23/2013

Please take ABC soap discussion to the Josh (Cutter Wentworth) Kelly thread linked to below. It is there for your daytime reading pleasure.

by Anonymous

reply 566

09/23/2013

Oh calm down, r566. It was just an extension of the Anna Stuart discussion.

by Anonymous

reply 567

09/23/2013

R567 I was just being nice, Bess.

by Anonymous

reply 568

09/23/2013

BTW, Bess, I loved your brother when he was on GL. I was new to soap opera, and he was my first "Hot guy moves to town and is revealed to be ____________'s secret son three sweeps from now." character.

by Anonymous

reply 569

09/23/2013

Was Phillip really a tennis pro? I don't remember that, and I even remember when Phillip was a little boy!

by Anonymous

reply 570

09/23/2013

Who was the definitive Ed Bauer?

Low-key, average looking Peter Simon?

Handsome, fit-fat Mart Hulswit?

Dreamy looking, gay Robert Gentry?

Stiff but manly looking Richard Van Vleet?

by Anonymous

reply 571

09/23/2013

Had no idea Robert Gentry was gay! Before my time though. Always had nice things to say about James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson (I think). Said sadly the soap gave them nothing to do. Just remember Peter Simon.

by Anonymous

reply 572

09/23/2013

Robert Gentry was my favorite Ed, followed by Peter Simon (since I had to forget him as Ian on WT). I have always wondered why Gentry didn't work out the second time. Anyone know?

by Anonymous

reply 573

09/23/2013

Anna Stuart is infinitely more fabulous and talented than that cheap tart Sue Lucci.

But for some reason they never had Ellen cross over to GL, or vice-versa have Bess visit her sister Ellen on ATWT.

by Anonymous

reply 579

09/23/2013

What is Anna Stuart's ethnicity? She has very exotic looks for a "white woman" from the South.

by Anonymous

reply 580

09/23/2013

More about how India tastes, please.

by Anonymous

reply 581

09/23/2013

Say hi to Dorie India!

by Anonymous

reply 582

09/23/2013

I did not know that about the Lowell sisters r579! interesting.

Speaking of Anna Stuart. I was watching the Emmys last night and could have sworn to saw her in the crowd sitting next to James Cromwell. Does anyone know if they have some connection?

by Anonymous

reply 583

09/23/2013

R581 A little like curry a lot like sea spray BUT always delicious! I don't see your other names like Thorpe etc so on? What gives?

by Anonymous

reply 584

09/23/2013

Crowmell and Stuart are lovers darling.Didn't know that? Well welcome to the party because it was being discussed very recently. Check out the last page....

by Anonymous

reply 585

09/23/2013

Good catch, r579. A lot of people forget that Bess appeared briefly on ATWT in the late-60s played by Bethel Leslie. She tried to steal David away from Ellen, and when that failed, she rebounded with Don Hughes. Irna hated the character, so she wrote her out by having her attempt suicide by jumping ONTO a building ledge. After the failed attempt, she left town. The only subsequent mention of Bess was the following Christmas when Ellen casually mentioned that Bess was now living in Springfield.

by Anonymous

reply 586

09/23/2013

Roger raped me, ya know, so I've omitted Thorpe. I was supposedly married to a Mr. Lindsay, but since I don't recall his first name, I feel no reason to include his surname. As for Fletcher, he gave me that "special" brat, and I'll never forgive him for that. So bye bye "Reade."

by Anonymous

reply 587

09/23/2013

Ms. Stuart claims to be a descendant of Sacagawea. Or Pochahontas. One of those.

by Anonymous

reply 588

09/23/2013

R580, I thought her real family name might be Stuarti. She does look Eyetalian.

by Anonymous

reply 589

09/23/2013

Time for a new thread.

What name should this one have?

Wired for Sound shenanigans?

Aunt Liz is a busybody?

Barbara Ryan Originals?

Did you ever stay at the Monticello Arms?

by Anonymous

reply 590

09/23/2013

Anna Stuart looks Italian but I've met people from the South that have Native American ancestry and have Anna's look.

Someone said Eyetalian? What is this Victorian era London?!Stuarti? I don't think so. Stuart is very English name wise, though if her family was Italian it might be some other name that is like Stuart.

by Anonymous

reply 591

09/23/2013

Isn't Stuart a Scottish name?

What, no mention of The Dreaming Death yet?

by Anonymous

reply 592

09/23/2013

I have to say, I am thrilled beyond compare that we have had TWO P&G threads make it to 600.

I'm so happy I could ALMOST be nice to Alexandra.

Perhaps I'll pick up the phone and call Phillip, and ask him what he's wearing. Unless that dreadful, precious Beth answers. Then I'll have to pretend it's the STD clinic calling with his results.

by Anonymous

reply 593

09/23/2013

[quote] What, no mention of The Dreaming Death yet?

A story best forgotten, in the ranks of horrid GL stories along with Infinity, the Sampson Girl pageant, Maryanne Carruthers who-gives-a-fuck, and Holly is stalking the children of Springfield.

by Anonymous

reply 594

09/23/2013

I think we should name the next thread "I'll cut any bitch who also goes to the masquerade ball as Scarlett O'Hara"

by Anonymous

reply 595

09/23/2013

Do you think it's safe to create a thread for the non-P&G/ABC/Sony shows that are long gone, like The Doctors and Love of Life and Love is a Many Splendored THing? They deserve our respect too.

by Anonymous

reply 596

09/23/2013

No R596. I think you should keep it all to one thread and people shouldn't complain if someone mentions The Doctors or LIAMST of LOL or WTH. Too many threads draws attention and creates problems.

That said, the new name should be

Has anyone tried the new menu at Tops?

by Anonymous

reply 597

09/23/2013

Fewer threads the better, R596. I don't think most readers would mind a few mentions of those ones in these threads, but the other recent shows all have a thread of their own.

Get theDL Delivered - recaps of your favorite topics delivered to your email inbox twice a week. It's easy to subscribe and even easier to unsubscribe when you want to. Give it a try! It's free so why not? (Click Here for a sample.)

Choose which channels you want to receive (uncheck all to unsubscribe)

Gossip

Entertainment

Politics

Important: Once you save your settings the first time you will receive a confirmation email. Please check your mail and click on the link in the email to complete your subscription.

No, we will not share your email address with anyone or send you spam.